Opinion ID: 2335942
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Jury's rejection of mitigating evidence

Text: Nunnery claims that his death sentence must be reversed because the jury acted arbitrarily and capriciously in rejecting mitigating circumstances that were clearly proven by the evidence. Specifically, Nunnery claims that the jury should have found the following mitigating circumstances: (1) he was abused by his father, (2) he assumed responsibility for his siblings, (3) he moved to multiple residences before the age of 16 and lacked a stable living environment, and (4) he accepted responsibility and admitted to the crimes. We cannot agree with, and have previously rejected, the premise that jurors are required to find proffered mitigating circumstances simply because there is unrebutted evidence to support them. See, e.g., Gallego v. State, 117 Nev. 348, 366-67, 23 P.3d 227, 240 (2001); Hollaway v. State, 116 Nev. 732, 744, 6 P.3d 987, 995-96 (2000); Thomas v. State, 114 Nev. 1127, 1149, 967 P.2d 1111, 1125 (1998). Nevada law permits the jury to decide, even if the evidence supports the factual basis for a mitigating circumstance, that the proposed mitigating circumstance does not actually extenuate or reduce the defendant's moral culpability. In this case, the jury found 11 mitigating circumstances. Its failure to find all of the proffered mitigating circumstances did not deprive Nunnery of his constitutional rights.