Opinion ID: 1226660
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Constitutionality of Jury Instructions

Text: Swann contends that the Virginia death penalty statute is unconstitutional under both the United States and the Virginia Constitutions because the trial court is not required to instruct the jury that it must weigh the aggravating factors of vileness and future dangerousness and find beyond a reasonable doubt that they outweigh any mitigating circumstances. If the statutory sentencing procedures sufficiently guide and channel the jury's discretion so as to minimize the risk of wholly arbitrary and capricious jury action in imposing the death sentence, the weighing instruction is not required by the Constitution of the United States. Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 874-75, 890, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 2741, 2749, 77 L.Ed.2d 235 (1983). And we reject Swann's argument that the statutory form of the verdict is unconstitutional. Watkins v. Commonwealth, 229 Va. at 490-91, 331 S.E.2d at 438.