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Eaton v. Commonwealth9/21/1990
the evidence that the death penalty is not justified, then you shall fix the punishment of Dennis Wayne Eaton at life imprisonment.
If the Commonwealth has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that, after consideration of his history and background, there is a probability that he would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing serious threat to society, then you shall fix the punishment of Dennis Wayne Eaton at life imprisonment.
Instruction A would have added: "If, after conscientious discussion and deliberation, you cannot reach a unanimous decision whether to impose the death sentence or life imprisonment, you may so advise the Court." Eaton argued that this was a better statement of the law. The trial court, however, refused Instruction A because it would have allowed the jury to avoid its duty. We agree.
Besides being duplicative of an instruction previously granted, Stockton, 227 Va. at 145, 314 S.E.2d at 384, Instruction A would have given the jury an easy way to avoid determining a sentence. while Code § 19.2-264.4(E) provides for the imposition of a life sentence by the trial court when the jury cannot agree upon a penalty, the jury, nevertheless, has a duty conscientiously to attempt to arrive at a sentence. Thus, the trial court correctly refused Instruction A.
Similarly, Instructions D, E, and F were duplicative of Instruction 1. Instruction D informed the jury that it could not base the death sentence solely upon the fact that Eaton killed a police officer. Instruction E listed a number of mitigating factors to be considered by the jury, and Instruction F stated that the jury could impose a life sentence despite finding beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of aggravating circumstances. Because Instruction 1 fully and fairly instructed the jury on the applicable
law, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion by ruling that Eaton's proffered Instructions A, D, E, and F, were duplicative. Stockton, 227 Va. at 145, 314 S.E.2d at 384. We have previously considered and rejected Eaton's assignments of error to the refusal of his penalty-phase Instructions B and C, supra n.6.
X. SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE REGARDING "FUTURE DANGEROUSNESS"
During the penalty phase, Eaton moved to strike at the conclusion of the Commonwealth's evidence and again at the close of all the evidence. The court denied both motions. The jury returned a sentence of death, "having unanimously found after consideration of [Eaton's] history and background that there is a probability that he would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing serious threat to society."
In contending that the Commonwealth failed to produce sufficient evidence to indicate that he would pose a future threat to society, Eaton ignores the evidence which reveals that he committed four unprovoked and seemingly irrational murders, and related crimes, within a 24-hour period. Additionally, Eaton joked about his crime spree to Holley and, while incarcerated, fashioned a deadly weapon with which he planned to assault a guard in an escape attempt. After considering this, and the evidence introduced in mitigation, we conclude that there was ample evidence presented by the Commonwealth to support the jury's finding that Eaton posed a continuing, serious threat to society.
XI. JURY DEADLOCK
Upon being instructed by the court at the penalty phase of trial, the jury retired to consider its verdict. As noted above, after
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