Opinion ID: 769328
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Paul's Youth as Mitigating Factor

Text: 34 Paul argues that the failure of six jury members to find his age as a mitigating factor was error because he was only eighteen when he committed the offense. While we again express doubt about the propriety of reviewing the jury's findings in this regard, we find no constitutional violation. The jury was certainly not precluded from considering Paul's youthful age as a mitigating factor. See Boyde, 494 U.S. at 386. During the penalty phase, Paul's birth certificate was offered into evidence. It established that Paul was only eighteen at the time of the murder. The FDPA prohibits administering the death penalty to a defendant younger than eighteen at the time the offense was committed. See 18 U.S.C. 3591(a)(2). Thus, the statute has a built-in guarantee that a minor will not be given the death penalty. However, Paul has not cited authority for the proposition that a jury is somehow required to give mitigating effect to any factor, let alone this one. Accordingly, we find no constitutional violation. 35