Opinion ID: 2161601
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 33

Heading: Right of Jury to Extend Mercy at Sentencing

Text: Grandison complains that the jury in a death penalty sentencing proceeding has the right to show mercy and compassion in its sentence determination and the trial judge erred in not so allowing. Building on former Md. Rule 759 f, [26] which was in force at the time of his sentencing, Grandison argues that nothing in the death penalty statute prohibits the exercise of compassion or mercy pursuant to the rule. Section f of the rule states: f. Recommendation of Mercy. A jury may attach to its verdict a recommendation to the court to show mercy to a defendant. The recommendation is not binding upon the court. The issue arose because of two circumstances that occurred during the proceedings. First, during voir dire of prospective jurors each was asked individually whether after listening to all the evidence and to what the judge said the law was, and having become convinced that based thereon the law required the death penalty, they would be able to give the death penalty. Second, Grandison requested the trial judge give the following instruction: The State alleges that the following aggravating circumstance applies in this case: The Defendant engaged or employed another person to commit the murder and the murder was committed pursuant to an agreement or contract for remuneration or the promise of remuneration. Unless you find beyond a reasonable doubt that this particular aggravating circumstance exists, you must mark `No' in the space opposite that aggravating circumstance in Section I of the sentencing form, and you may not consider that factor in determining the appropriate sentence. Should you believe that the State has established beyond a reasonable doubt that this aggravating factor exists and is sufficient in your minds to call for the penalty of death, then it is proper for you to exercise your own moral, factual and legal judgment in determining whether that circumstance is sufficient in your minds to call for the punishment of death. He also requested that the jury be instructed: You need not find a mitigating circumstance in order to impose a sentence of life imprisonment. Nothing in the law forbids you from extending mercy out of compassion or belief that life imprisonment is sufficient punishment under all the circumstances. The trial judge overruled Grandison's objection on the voir dire issue and denied the two requested instructions listed above. Keeping in mind that § 413(g)(8) of Art. 27 specifically allows the jury to set forth in writing any other facts which it finds as a mitigating circumstance, it strikes us that indeed there is ample provision for the jury to show compassion or mercy, albeit based on articulated facts. In our view this comports with the mandates of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972) and Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976). See also Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978). In Gregg, the Court stated in part: Furman mandates that where discretion is afforded a sentencing body on a matter so grave as the determination of whether a human life should be taken or spared, that discretion must be suitably directed and limited so as to minimize the risk of wholly arbitrary and capricious action. 428 U.S. at 189, 96 S.Ct. at 2932, 49 L.Ed.2d at 883. Not only does the Maryland death penalty statute pass constitutional muster, Tichnell v. State, 287 Md. 695, 415 A.2d 830, it is flexible enough to allow a jury to show compassion and mercy should the facts and circumstances of the case so warrant. As stated in Foster v. State, 304 Md. 439, 475, 499 A.2d 1236, 1254 (1985): If the sentencing authority perceives anything relating to the defendant or the crime which causes it to believe that death may not be appropriate, it may treat such factor as a mitigating circumstance and decide that it outweighs the aggravating circumstance. In accordance, Judge Simpkins instructed the sentencing jury: The eighth mitigating circumstance is, you will note on your sheet, any other circumstance. In Number Eight you should indicate any other mitigating circumstance or circumstances that you find from the evidence to exist. If from the evidence you found some other circumstance, other than those listed, you would mark that Number Eight yes, and then you would go and in the space provided below it, write in the nature of the circumstance that you had found. Judge Simpkins later instructed the jury as to the weighing and balancing of all aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Through these instructions, the jurors were made aware that they could list and weigh any factor or circumstance as mitigating. Hence, the trial court provided the sentencer the opportunity to exercise its own moral judgment within the statutorily prescribed guidelines. The Maryland death penalty statute is a delicate balance. It provides for an individualized determination of the defendant and the crime by allowing for consideration of a broad range of mitigating factors. Calhoun v. State, 297 Md. 563, 468 A.2d 45, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 2374, 80 L.Ed.2d 846 (1983). But by requiring the articulation of these aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it prevents the sentencer from exercising unguided discretion. Id. To have instructed the jury as Grandison requested would have negated the carefully thought out sentencing procedure designed to meet the constitutional requirements set forth by the Supreme Court by injecting the risk of arbitrary and capricious action into the proceeding. Consequently, the court's refusal to give the requested instructions was not error. Likewise, the objected to voir dire was an accurate statement of the law. In certain circumstances, the imposition of the death sentence is the only legally possible outcome under the statute. See Stebbing v. State, 299 Md. 331, 473 A.2d 903, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 105 S.Ct. 276, 83 L.Ed.2d 212 (1984). Consequently, the voir dire hypothetical, clearly designated as such, was not reversible error.