Court Opinion

ID: 9776487
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:37:36.651093+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:39.187234
License: Public Domain

BLACKMAR, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I concur with one qualification.
I doubt that we can rely on procedural grounds to avoid an ultimate ruling as to whether MAI-CR2d 15.44 is in violation of the holding in Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367, 108 S.Ct. 1860, 100 L.Ed.2d 384 (1988). I believe that there is no similarity between 15.44 and the instruction found faulty in Mills. I borrow from the language of Judge Edward L. Filippine of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Gilmore v. Delo, No. 89 — 1167C(2), 1989 WL 109554, June 20, 1989, as follows:
This Court does not find that the jury instructions given in this case are remotely similar to those in Mills, much less unconstitutional. The instructions in Mills were fashioned in the form of interrogatories, and were prefaced by an ambiguous instruction phrased in such a manner that if the jury did not find such mitigating factors, then the resulting sentence would be death. In this case, the jurors were instructed that if they unanimously found that a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances outweighed the aggravating circumstances, then they were to return a verdict for imprisonment for life. The instruction did not require them to unanimously agree on mitigating factors, as in Mills, but rather, that they must unanimously agree that the factors outweigh the mitigating factors before a life sentence is mandated.
Furthermore, the instruction which followed stated that even if they did not find the aggravating circumstances outweighed, they were not compelled to fix death as a punishment. Therefore, these instructions differ substantially from those found unconstitutional in Mills, supra.
I agree that the judgment should be affirmed.