Cite as: 510 U. S. 222 (1994)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
Justice Blackmun, dissenting.
I join Justice Stevensí dissenting opinion. I write separately because I believe Bullington v. Missouri, 451 U. S. 430 (1981), provides a compelling alternative ground for vacation of Schiro's death sentence.
In Bullington, this Court held that once a capital defendant is acquitted of the death sentence, the Double Jeopardy Clause bars his again being placed in jeopardy of death at a subsequent sentencing proceeding. The majority rejects Schiro's double jeopardy claim on the theory that because "a second sentencing proceeding ordinarily does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause," it fails to see "how an initial sentencing proceeding could do so." Ante, at 230. The essential holding of Bullington, however, was that capital sentencing proceedings uniquely can constitute a "jeopardy" under the Double Jeopardy Clause. The proceeding examined in Bullington had "the hallmarks of the trial on guilt or innocence," 451 U. S., at 439, where the prosecution must "prov[e] its case" beyond a reasonable doubt, id., at 443. We concluded that such a bifurcated capital penalty proceeding is itself a trial that places a defendant in jeopardy of death. Ibid.
The sentencing proceeding at issue here is indistinguishable from that confronted in Bullington. As Justice De-Bruler noted in dissent from the affirmance of Schiro's sentence on direct appeal:
"[T]he jury reconvenes in court for the sentencing hearing. It is presided over by the judge. The defendant is present with his counsel and the state by its trial prosecutor. Evidence is presented in an adversarial setting . . . . The burden is upon the state to prove the aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt. The lawyers make final arguments to the jury. The jury retires to deliberate and returns into open court with its verdict in the form of a recommendation. This is a full scale jury trial in every sense of those terms. The defendant must surely feel that he is in 'direct peril'
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