Opinion ID: 1946348
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: sufficiency of proportionality review

Text: We are urged by Gray that Mississippi Code Annotated § 99-19-105(3)(c) (Supp. 1984), requires us to compare his death penalty with all capital murder cases, even though a life sentence is imposed and whether or not the case was even appealed to this Court. Gray further argues that we should compare appealed capital convictions where a life sentence was imposed with cases where the death penalty was imposed. Gray contends that a detailed examination and review of all capital murder cases is necessary to achieve the justice that the proportionality requirement envisions. We reject this contention. In Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37, 104 S.Ct. 871, 79 L.Ed.2d 29 (1984), the Supreme Court of the United States held that such a review is not constitutionally mandated, being exclusively a question of state law. In Gray v. Lucas, 677 F.2d 1086 (5th Cir.1982), the Fifth Circuit said: Gray claims that the Mississippi Supreme Court's comparative review of death sentences is flawed since the Court only compared Gray's case with those cases where the death sentence had been imposed and not with all the cases where it could have been imposed. Because the Supreme Court has rejected a similar argument in Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 258-59 fn. 16, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 2969-70 fn. 16, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976), we reject this claim as well. 677 F.2d at 1111. We find no basis in this assignment of error and it is rejected.