Opinion ID: 2382857
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 27

Heading: State v. Oglesby

Text: The majority includes Oglesby in several of its comparison groups, including those with the same number of aggravating and mitigating factors and the index of outcomes test. Ante at 170-172, 613 A. 2d at 1090-1091. The majority reports Oglesby as a death verdict without analyzing or commenting on whether this Court's reversal of that death sentence undermines the confidence in the jury's death verdict. That oversight is unconscionable, as the Court reversed because the jury instructions on the sole aggravating factor in the case, c(4)(c), were constitutionally deficient. State v. Oglesby, 122 N.J. 522, 532, 585 A. 2d 916 (1991). The instruction did not comply with this Court's narrowing construction of that factor in Ramseur. Although the conviction was overturned due to an erroneous jury instruction on the burden of proof of the diminished-capacity defense, the Court found that error in the aggravating factor instruction provided an independent basis for the vacation of the sentence. Clearly, an overbroad definition of the sole aggravating factor in the case raises substantial questions about the reliability of the jury's decision to sentence Oglesby to death.