Court Opinion

ID: 9681512
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:51:48.663272+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:34.288699
License: Public Domain

LEIBSON, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion. However, I would add that it is time to correct the practice of describing the jury’s duty in death penalty cases as being to “recommend a sentence for the defendant,” in voir dire, instructions, argument, or elsewhere.
Continuously we are confronted by the fact that these words are used before the jury to minimize its responsibility in deciding on the death penalty. Sometimes we side step the problem by saying that the word was not overused, and sometimes, as in the present case and in Ice v. Commonwealth, Ky., 667 S.W.2d 671 (1984), we recognize that the prejudice is too serious to ignore. As stated in State v. Willie, 410 So.2d 1019, 1034 (La.1982), “the message [is] that the jurors’ awesome responsibility is lessened by the fact that their decision is not the final one.”
While it is true that KRS 532.025(l)(b) provides that the jury shall “recommend a sentence for the defendant,” the fact is when the jury votes the death penalty, it is much more than merely a recommendation. Unless the jury so recommends, the trial judge cannot impose such a sentence. If the jury so recommends, almost without exception the trial judge has followed the jury’s recommendation by imposing the death penalty.
*409RCr 9.84, titled “Penalty,” recognizes the true nature of the jury’s function. It provides “(1) When the jury returns a verdict of guilty it shall fix the degree of the offense and the penalty....” (Emphasis added). At all stages of the trial we should require that counsel and the court use the word “fix” as provided in RCr 9.84, rather than the word “recommend” which is misleading.
Further, we should order that, prospectively, the forms of verdict provided to the jury to use upon a finding of guilty should provide “and fix the defendant’s punishment at_,” rather than using “and recommend a punishment of_”
In short, once and for all, we should get rid of the unfair prejudice inhering in use of the word “recommend” to describe the jury’s function in setting a penalty.
VANCE, J., joins in concurring opinion.