NCJ Number
99862
Journal
New Mexico Law Review Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1985) Pages: 41-71
Date Published
1985
Length
31 pages
Annotation
The author proposes that a capital murder defendant, once convicted and facing the possibility of the jury imposing a death sentence, must have an unencumbered right to make a plea for mercy, based on the concept of allocution -- the accused's right to speak on his own behalf prior to sentencing -- and constitutional requirements of capital sentencing procedures.
Abstract
The author first examines New Mexico's approach to capital sentencing, which requires the sentencing authority to weigh aggravating circumstances against mitigating circumstances raised by the evidence in deciding the sentence, and compares it to other approaches. The author then explores both the constitutional requirement that a capital sentencing proceeding permit the accused to offer evidence in mitigation of punishment and the common law right of allocution, and then discusses the plea for mercy itself and the chilling effect of impeachment of a defendant pleading for mercy. Also presented are steps a defense counsel should follow in requesting that a client be allowed to make a plea for mercy in New Mexico. 174 footnotes.