Cite as: 504 U. S. 719 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
dence described in this Court's cases. See Turner v. Murray, supra, at 34-35 (plurality opinion).
The Illinois death penalty statute provides that "[t]he court shall consider, or shall instruct the jury to consider any aggravating and any mitigating factors which are relevant to the imposition of the death penalty," Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 38,
¶ 9-1(c) (Supp. 1990), and lists certain mitigating factors that the legislature must have deemed relevant to such imposition, ibid.10 The statute explicitly directs the procedure controlling this jury deliberation:
"If there is a unanimous finding by the jury that one or more of the factors [enumerated in aggravation] exist, the jury shall consider aggravating and mitigating factors as instructed by the court and shall determine whether the sentence of death shall be imposed. If the jury determines unanimously that there are no mitigating factors sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death sentence, the court shall sentence the defendant to death." ¶ 9-1(g).
In accord with this statutory procedure, the trial judge in this case instructed the jury:
"In deciding whether the Defendant should be sentenced to death, you should consider all the aggravating
10 Illinois Rev. Stat., ch. 38, ¶ 9-1(c) (Supp. 1990), provides: "Mitigating factors may include but need not be limited to the following: "(1) the defendant has no significant history of prior criminal activity; "(2) the murder was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance, although not such as to constitute a defense to prosecution; "(3) the murdered individual was a participant in the defendant's homicidal conduct or consented to the homicidal act; "(4) the defendant acted under the compulsion of threat or menace of the imminent infliction of death or great bodily harm; "(5) the defendant was not personally present during commission of the act or acts causing death."
737
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