Court Opinion

ID: 9852980
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:40:33.446807+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:38.989218
License: Public Domain

Littlejohn, Acting Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent. I do not agree with the majority’s opinion that the bailiffs response to the forelady of the jury lessened the jurors’ sense of responsibility by implying that if the jury returned a guilty verdict without a recommendation of mercy, the trial judge had some discretion in sentencing the defendant. Rather, I agree with the trial judge’s express finding, which he made after questioning the bailiff and the fore-lady, that nothing that the bailiff said could be construed “to encourage or in any way influence a verdict without mercy.” This court should respect that finding, there being evidence to support it. As I read the forelady’s testimony, the jurors decided that the length of sentence, whether for life or a lesser term, should not make any difference on how the jury decided the issue of guilt.