Opinion ID: 1775659
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: did the trial court err in failing to define and describe the nature and function of mitigating circumstances?

Text: The following is Instruction D-5, the trial court's refusal of which Cole assigns as error: If you find the existence of any one of the aggravating circumstances, then you must weigh and consider any mitigating circumstances. A mitigating circumstance is any fact relating to West Cole's character, education, environment, mentality or life or any aspect of the crime itself which may be considered extenuating or reducing the moral culpability of the killing or making the defendant less deserving of the extreme punishment of death. If (sic) offering mitigating evidence, the defendant is not suggesting that the crime is justified or excusable. Mitigating circumstances are those circumstances which offer a partial explanation as to why and how the crime occurred and which tend to justify the penalty of life imprisonment. While the weight which you give to a particular mitigating circumstance is a matter for your moral, factual, and legal judgment, you must consider all evidence of mitigation. You may not refuse to consider any evidence of mitigation and thereby give it no weight. We rejected this argument in Booker v. State, 449 So.2d 209, 218-19 (Miss. 1984), vacated on other grounds, 472 U.S. 1023, 105 S.Ct. 3493, 87 L.Ed.2d 626 (1985). We are of the opinion that the sentencing instruction in the case at bar, which tracked the language of the statute, appropriately channelled the sentencer's discretion. King v. State, 421 So.2d 1009 (Miss. 1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 919, 103 S.Ct. 1903, 77 L.Ed.2d 290 (1983).