Opinion ID: 1759877
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Proportionality Review of Death Sentence

Text: ¶ 196. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-19-105(3) (2000) requires this Court to perform a proportionality review of a death sentence in a capital case. Section 99-19-105(3) states: (3) With regard to the sentence, the court shall determine: (a) Whether the sentence of death was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor; (b) Whether the evidence supports the jury's or judge's finding of a statutory aggravating circumstance as enumerated in Section 99-19-101; (c) Whether the sentence of death is excessive of disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant; and (d) Should one or more of the aggravating circumstances be found invalid on appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court shall determine whether the remaining aggravating circumstances are outweighed by the mitigating circumstances or whether the inclusion of any invalid circumstances was harmless error, or both. ¶ 197. After reviewing the record in this appeal as well as the death penalty cases listed in the appendix, we conclude that Scott's death sentence was not imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other factor. We further find that the evidence is more than sufficient to support the jury's finding of statutory aggravating circumstances. In comparison to other factually similar cases where the death sentences was imposed, the sentence of death is neither excessive of disproportionate in this case. Finally, the jury did not consider any invalid aggravating circumstances. Therefore, we affirm the death sentence imposed in this case.