Opinion ID: 1780246
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: refusal to allow the offer of plea as a relevant mitigating factor

Text: ¶ 86. Bennett's thirteenth assignment of error is that the trial court refused to allow his counsel to argue, at closing, that Bennett had been offered a plea bargain. Bennett claims the State's offer to plea bargain is admissible at sentencing as evidence of mitigation, and the judge's refusal to allow the introduction of this evidence requires reversal. Bennett, however, has failed to cite to a single case holding that offers of plea bargains must be admitted at sentencing, or that failure to allow evidence of a plea bargain offer is an abuse of discretion by the trial court judge. Failure to cite to relevant authority results in a waiver of the issue on appeal. Simmons, 805 So.2d at 487. ¶ 87. Bennett's issue is also without substantive merit. A jury should be allowed to consider, as mitigation, any aspect of the defendant's character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978). The trial court did not violate Lockett and did not err in refusing to allow evidence of defendant's plea offer. Bennett's plea offer is neither mitigation evidence of his character nor part of the circumstances of the crime for which Bennett was convicted. Accordingly, this issue is without merit.