Opinion ID: 1866240
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Did the lower court err in refusing Jury Instructions D-3, D-4 and D-8?

Text: Instruction D-3 follows: I have previously read to you the list of aggravating circumstances which the law permits you to consider if you find that any of them is established by the evidence. These are the only aggravating circumstances you may consider. You are not allowed to take account of any other facts or circumstances as the basis for deciding that the death penalty would be an appropriate punishment in this case. Instruction 7 (S-1) granted by the court instructed the jury that it must find the existence of certain statutory aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt prior to any consideration of the death penalty. It further limited the statutory aggravating circumstances to those four (4) on which evidence had been adduced during the trial. Instruction D-4: The Court instructs the Jury that the terms heinous, atrocious, and cruel are deemed to include those capital crimes where the actual commission of the capital felony was accompanied by such additional acts as to set the crime apart from the norm of capital felonies in that it involved the conscienceless or pitiless crime which is unnecessarily torturous to the victim. If you find from the evidence that the victim died a quick death without unnecessary pain and torture, then, though the crime is murder, it is not to be considered as especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. In our opinion, under the facts of the case sub judice and under the Mississippi statute, Instruction D-4 was too restrictive and its refusal does not constitute reversible error notwithstanding Godfrey v. Georgia . Further, the discussion under Part III hereinabove applies on this question. Instruction D-8: The Court instructs the Jury that even if you find that aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, you may still recommend mercy and sentence the Defendant to life imprisonment. The sense of that instruction was submitted in Instructions D-1 and D-7. Instruction D-1       You are instructed that even if you find the existence of one, two, three or more aggravating circumstances, you still can conclude that the circumstances are insufficient to warrant death, and you may impose a sentence of life imprisonment. Instruction D-7 The Court instructs the Jury that you are not required to find any mitigating circumstance in order to make a recommendation of mercy that is binding on the trial Court, but you must find a statutory aggravating circumstance before recommending a sentence of death.