Opinion ID: 1739694
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: instructions on mitigating circumstances

Text: Three alleged errors are asserted by Irving which will be grouped together in this heading: the court's refusal to give the requested instruction delineating mitigating circumstances, which, according to Irving, had the effect of lumping all of them together as a single factor; the failure of the trial court to require the jury to make specific, written findings on mitigating circumstances; and the failure of the trial court to give an instruction on diminished capacity. As to the first contention, the opinion of this Court on direct appeal considered at length the trial court's failure to grant Instruction D-4, and concluded that there was no error therein. As to the other two contentions, there is no indication that Irving's counsel raised these issues at trial, where they could have been corrected. He defends this failure in his brief with the statement that Defense counsel's direct appeal of Instruction S-1 necessarily included all vital elements left out of that instruction. (Application, p. 35). In Stringer v. State, 500 So.2d 928 (1986), this Court held that the contemporaneous objection rule applies even in death penalty cases. See also Gray v. State, 472 So.2d 409 (Miss. 1985). In Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977), the United States Supreme Court also held that the failure to make a contemporaneous objection at trial constitutes a waiver of any error subsequently asserted. Consider also the following language from the United States Supreme Court regarding procedural default: the mere fact that counsel failed to recognize the factual or legal basis for a claim, or failed to raise the claim despite recognizing it, does not constitute cause for a procedural default... . . when a trial default occurs: the default deprives the trial court of an opportunity to correct any error without re-trial, detracts from the importance of the trial itself, gives state appellate courts no chance to review trial errors, and `exacts an extra charge by undercutting the State's ability to enforce its procedural rules.' Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. at ___, 106 S.Ct. at 2645, 91 L.Ed.2d at 407-08 quoting Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 129, 102 S.Ct. 1558, 1572, 71 L.Ed.2d 783 (1982).