Cite as: 530 U. S. 156 (2000)
Opinion of Kennedy, J.
robbery, which were not part of a common act, transaction, or scheme. Va. Code Ann. § 53.1-151(B1) (1993). Petition-er's counsel also stated that three jurors contacted by petitioner's counsel after the verdict expressed the opinion that a life sentence would have been imposed had they known Ramdass would not be eligible for parole. These jurors were not identified by name, were not produced for testimony, and provided no formal or sworn statements supporting defense counsel's representations. App. 95. Rejecting petitioner's arguments for a life sentence, the trial court sentenced petitioner to death.
Ramdass appealed, arguing that his parole ineligibility, as he characterized it, should have been disclosed to the jury. The Virginia Supreme Court rejected the claim, applying its settled law "that a jury should not hear evidence of parole eligibility or ineligibility because it is not a relevant consideration in fixing the appropriate sentence." Ramdass v. Commonwealth, 246 Va. 413, 426, 437 S. E. 2d 566, 573 (1993). The court did not address whether Ramdass had waived the claim by failing to mention the three-strikes law at trial or by not objecting to the instructions that were given. Other Virginia capital defendants in Ramdass' position had been raising the issue at trial, despite existing Virginia law to the contrary. E. g., Mickens v. Commonwealth, 249 Va. 423, 424, 457 S. E. 2d 9, 10 (1995); O'Dell v. Thompson, 502 U. S. 995, 996-997, n. 3 (1991) (Blackmun, J., respecting denial of certiorari); Mueller v. Commonwealth, 244 Va. 386, 408-409, 422 S. E. 2d 380, 394 (1992); Eaton v. Commonwealth, 240 Va. 236, 244, 397 S. E. 2d 385, 390 (1990).
From the State Supreme Court's denial of his claims on direct review, Ramdass filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in this Court. One of his arguments was that the judge should have instructed the jury that he was ineligible for parole. While the petition was pending, we decided Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U. S. 154 (1994), which held that where a defendant was parole ineligible under state law at
163
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007