US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
507 U.S. 272
Subscribe to Cases that cite 507 U.S. 272OCTOBER TERM, 1992
Per Curiam
DELO, SUPERINTENDENT, POTOSI CORRECTIONAL CENTER v. LASHLEY
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
No. 92-409. Decided March 8,1993
During the penalty phase of respondent Lashley's capital murder trial, his counsel requested that the jury be instructed on the mitigating circumstance that Lashley had no significant criminal history. However, when neither Lashley's counsel nor the prosecutor presented proof of the mitigating circumstance, the trial judge refused to give the requested instruction and Lashley was sentenced to death. Subsequently a Federal District Court dismissed Lashley's habeas petition, rejecting his claim that the state judge's failure to give the instruction violated due process. The Court of Appeals granted relief, holding that this Court's decision in Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U. S. 586, required the State, which was in a peculiarly advantageous position to show a significant prior criminal history, to come forward with evidence or else the court must instruct the jury on the mitigating circumstance.
Held: State courts are not obligated by the Constitution to give mitigating circumstance instructions when no evidence is offered to support them. Because the jury heard no evidence concerning Lashley's prior criminal history, the trial judge did not err in refusing to give the requested instruction. States are not better positioned than defendants to adduce evidence of a defendant's own criminal history. Assuming, arguendo, that a presumption of innocence of other crimes did attach at Lashley's sentencing, he still was not constitutionally entitled to a "presumption of innocence" instruction.
Certiorari granted; 957 F.2d 1495, reversed.
PER CURIAM. *
I
Respondent Frederick Lashley brutally beat and stabbed to death his 55-year-old, physically impaired cousin and foster mother, Janie Tracy, in the course of robbing her. An
*JU8TICE SOUTER joins only Part I of this opinion.
adult in the eyes of Missouri law at age 17, Lashley was convicted of capital murder, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 565.001 (1978) (repealed Oct. 1, 1984), and sentenced to death. At a conference preceding the penalty phase of the trial, one of Lashley's attorneys asked the judge to instruct the jury on the mitigating circumstance that "[t]he defendant ha[d] no significant history of prior criminal activity," Mo. Rev. Stat. § 565.012.3(1) (1978) (current version Mo. Rev. Stat. § 565.032.3(1) (Supp. 1991)). App. to Pet. for Cert. A-86 to A-87. Defense counsel sought this instruction even though she repeatedly asserted that she would not try to show that Lashley lacked a criminal past. Id., at A-84, A-86. At the same time, she moved for an order prohibiting the State from cross-examining defense witnesses as to Lashley's juvenile record. Id., at A-83, A-84. Such questioning may not have been permissible under Missouri law. See Mo. Rev. Stat. § 211.271 (1986). In any event, the judge did not expressly rule on the latter motion. See Lashley v. Armontrout, 957 F.2d 1495, 1501, n. 1 (1992) ("[T]he trial court was not called upon to rule in respect to the admissibility of defendant's juvenile record"). The judge did indicate, however, that Lashley would not be entitled to the requested instruction without supporting evidence. App. to Pet. for Cert. A-84, A-87.
Perhaps Lashley's attorneys chose not to make the necessary proffer because they feared that the prosecutor would be permitted to respond with evidence that Lashley had engaged in criminal activity as a juvenile. One of the attorneys so testified in a state collateral proceeding. Tr. 29 (Apr. 10, 1985). Or perhaps defense counsel sought to avoid opening the door to evidence that Lashley had committed other crimes as an adult. As the Missouri Supreme Court observed, the record indicates that, following his arrest, Lashley confessed to committing several other crimes after
