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State v. Moeller8/30/2000
ly discretionary and too speculative to be given to the jury. After hearing arguments, the court denied State's motion, stating:
It seems as to me the possibility of a commutation, that's too remote or speculative for the jury to be instructed on that. However, following if the defense brings that [life means life] up or makes the kind of argument I indicated which could in any way indicate that there are no ways that therefore the defendant could be released, that that would open it up. But unless it's opened up in that fashion by the defense I will not allow either an instruction or argument dealing with the Governor's authority to commute life sentences.
[ ] Later the trial court denied Moeller's proposed jury instruction, reasoning:
The instructions dealing with, in fact, what the actual result of the sentence will be is basically, you know, nobody knows what the future will bring. I refused the State's request to instruct about the Governor's authority to commute sentence. I think likewise to instruct them, which this really does, that the sentence would never be commuted, also would involve me commenting or instructing on these things that I don't know about.
Accordingly, the jury was not given any information about the Governor's authority to commute a life sentence, nor was it instructed that "life means life."
[ ] The instructions provided to the jury used "life imprisonment," "life sentence," "life in the penitentiary" and "life imprisonment without parole" interchangeably. The verdict form used the term "life imprisonment without parole." During deliberations, the jury foreman sent a note to the court asking: "If the penalty of 'life imprisonment without parole' should be imposed upon the defendant, will he EVER have a chance to appear before a parole board?" (emphasis in original).
[ ] After hearing arguments from counsel, and over the objections of defense counsel, the trial court decided to respond to the jury's question with this statement: "We acknowledge your note asking questions about life imprisonment without parole. All of the information which I can give you is set forth in the jury instructions." That response was sent back in to the jury, which returned a sentence of death the following morning.
[ ] On appeal, Moeller challenges the denial of his "life means life" jury instruction, as well as the court's response to the jury's question. By notice of review, State raises the issue of whether it was error not to instruct the jury on the Governor's commutation authority.
DECISION
[ ] SDCL 23A-27A-4 provides in part that " f a sentence of death is not recommended by the jury, the court shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment." SDCL 24-15-4 further states that " person sentenced to life imprisonment is not eligible for parole by the board of pardons and paroles." However, " he Governor may ... grant pardons, commutations, and reprieves. ..." SDConst art IV, § 3.
[ ] In Rhines, we held there to be no abuse of discretion in the trial court's rejection of the defendant's following proposed instruction:
The two specified sentences that you are to consider in this case are death, and life in prison without parole.
In your deliberations, you are to presume that if you sentence Charles Russell Rhines to death, he will in fact be executed by lethal injection. You must not assume or speculate that the courts, or any other agency of government, will stop the defendant's execution from taking place.
Similarly, you are to presume that if you sentence Charles Russell Rhines to life in prison without parole, he will in fa
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