United States Third Circuit

Denial of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging defendant's first degree murder conviction and death sentence is affirmed, where: 1) the trial court did not err in declining to give a Simmons instruction, as Simmons does not require a parole ineligibility instruction in every case; 2) a parole ineligibility instruction is necessary when the defendant's future dangerousness has been expressly implicated, not when the only references to a defendant's dangerousness relate to his past conduct, as was the case here; 3) the "grave risk" aggravating circumstance could be reasonably interpreted as applying to defendant's assault of his ex-girlfriend who blocked the path to the murder victim; and 4) Pennsylvania’s "grave risk" aggravating circumstance is not overbroad on its face, nor was it applied unconstitutionally here, since the trial court's jury instructions mirrored the language of the statute in a way understandable to the average juror.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/12/2014
• Published 08/12/2014

Judges

• CHAGARES

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel