Court Opinion

ID: 9538802
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:42:01.167971+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:10.401750
License: Public Domain

CHAPEL, Vice Presiding Judge,
specially concurring:
We continue to see case after case where the jury sends a note to the trial judge during deliberations inquiring about the possibility of parole. The reason why jurors repeatedly ask this question is because they are confused. They want, need, and deserve an answer. I continue to believe we should fashion an instruction which clarifies this issue for the jury.1 I am concerned about the ramifications of our failure to do so since it seems clear to me that some jurors may be voting for a death sentence only because they believe that life without parole really does not mean life without parole.
I therefore concur based on stare decisis.

. See Mayes v. State, 887 P.2d 1288, 1324-25 (Okl.Cr.1994) (Chapel, J., dissenting), or McGregor v. State, 885 P.2d 1366, 1383 (Okl.Cr.1994) where I discuss this issue.