Cite as: 507 U. S. 272 (1993)
Stevens, J., dissenting
In this case, as the Court expressly acknowledges, nothing in the record "disturbed the presumption that Lashley was a first offender." Ante, at 279. There was no danger that the "jury might conclude improperly that he was a repeat offender." Ibid. What was lacking, however, was advice to the jury that Missouri law draws a distinction between first offenders and repeat offenders and provides that membership in one class rather than the other shall be considered a mitigating fact no matter how serious the offense committed by the defendant may be. Failure to advise the jury about the mitigating effect of his status as first offender is just as unfair as the failure to advise the jury that it should consider evidence offered by a defendant "as mitigating evidence and that it could give mitigating effect to that evidence in imposing sentence." Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U. S. 302, 320 (1989) (emphasis in original).10
port of that record to receive an instruction about it. Whether the presumption that a defendant—even a convicted capital defendant—is innocent of all other crimes is viewed as evidence in his favor or merely as a rule of evidence imposing a burden of proof on the State, it means that the State must offer something to disprove it. Because the State in this case offered nothing to disprove it, the instruction was constitutionally required.
10 "We note that the Oklahoma death penalty statute permits the defendant to present evidence 'as to any mitigating circumstances.' Okla. Stat., Tit. 21, § 701.10 (1980). Lockett requires the sentencer to listen." Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U. S. 104, 115, n. 10 (1982). "I disagree with the suggestion in the dissent that remanding this case may serve no useful purpose. Even though the petitioner had an opportunity to present evidence in mitigation of the crime, it appears that the trial judge believed that he could not consider some of the mitigating evidence in imposing sentence. In any event, we may not speculate as to whether the trial judge and the Court of Criminal Appeals actually considered all of the mitigating factors and found them insufficient to offset the aggravating circumstances, or whether the difference between this Court's opinion and the trial court's treatment of the petitioner's evidence is 'purely a matter of semantics,' as suggested by the dissent. Woodson [v. North Carolina, 428 U. S. 280 (1976)] and Lockett require us to remove any legitimate basis for finding ambiguity concerning the factors actually considered by the trial court." Id., at 119 (O'Connor, J., concurring).
287
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