Court Opinion

ID: 9625926
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:56:20.346862+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:20.491074
License: Public Domain

FINNEY, Chief Justice:
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s opinion insofar as it holds appellant was not entitled to a jury charge that he was parole ineligible pursuant to Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U.S. 154, 114 S.Ct. 2187, 129 L.Ed.2d 133 (1994). As I explained in my dissent in State v. Shafer, 340 S.C. 291, 531 S.E.2d 524 (2000) all capital defendants are now parole ineligi*331ble under the 1996 amendments to S.C.Code Ann. § 16-3-20 (Supp.1999). Appellant thus meets the two prerequisites for a Simmons charge: (1) parole ineligibility and (2) argument regarding future dangerousness. All the state cases cited by the majority as supporting its decision not to apply Simmons are distinguishable because in each the defendant faced a potentially parolable sentencing option under state law. The decision in United States v. Flores, 63 F.3d 1342 (5th Cir.1995) is simply unhelpful since parole has been abolished in the federal system. For these reasons, and the reasons given in my Shafer dissent, I would reverse the denial of appellant’s request for a Simmons charge.