Opinion ID: 1163403
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 40

Heading: Duty To Consult Instruction.

Text: Brett argues the penalty phase instructions on jury unanimity are conflicting and could reasonably be interpreted to require unanimity to return a verdict for life in violation of the state death penalty statute, state and federal due process, and cruel punishment clauses. This argument is without merit. The instructions cited by Brett neither conflict nor create the possibility the jury would be misled to believe it must reach a unanimous decision to return a verdict for life without possibility of parole. [52] The duty to consult instruction provides: Jurors have a duty to consult with one another and to deliberate with a view to reaching a unanimous verdict, if it can be done without violence to individual judgment. Each of you must decide the case for yourself but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence with your fellow jurors. In the course of your deliberations, you should not hesitate to re-examine your own views and change your opinion if you are convinced it is erroneous. However, you should not surrender your honest conviction as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely because of the opinions of your fellow jurors, or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict. (Italics ours.) Instruction 2; Clerk's Papers, at 545. When read in its entirety, this instruction does not imply the jury has a duty to reach a unanimous verdict for life. The verdict form and instruction 4 clearly inform the jury that if it is unable to unanimously agree, the sentence will be life without parole. The verdict form provides: [ ] Unable to Unanimously Agree (In which case the defendant shall be sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole) Clerk's Papers, at 554. Instruction 4 stated: If you unanimously answer no, or if you are unable to agree on a unanimous answer, the sentence will be life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Clerk's Papers, at 547. Instruction 10 also expressly allows for a nonunanimous verdict. If all twelve of you are unable to unanimously agree, fill in the answer to the question in the appropriate place on the verdict form.... Clerk's Papers, at 553. These jury instructions are not misleading and each informs the jury that it may return a verdict if the jurors are unable to agree.