42
Opinion of the Court
ineligibility will not be charged," the trial judge stated: "I find that future dangerousness [was] not argued[;] if it's argued [in the prosecutor's closing], it may become different." App. 164.
Unsuccessful in his effort to gain a court instruction on parole ineligibility, Shafer's counsel sought permission to impart the information to the jury himself. He sought leave to read in his closing argument lines from the controlling statute, § 16-3-20(A), stating plainly that a life sentence in South Carolina carries no possibility of parole. App. 164- 165.1 In accord with the State's motion "to prevent the defense from arguing in their closing argument anything to the effect that [Shafer] will never get out of prison," App. 161, the judge denied the defense permission to read the statute's text to the jury. App. 165.
1 Section 16-3-20(A) reads: "A person who is convicted of or pleads guilty to murder must be punished by death, by imprisonment for life, or by a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for thirty years. If the State seeks the death penalty and a statutory aggravating circumstance is found beyond a reasonable doubt pursuant to subsections (B) and (C), and a recommendation of death is not made, the trial judge must impose a sentence of life imprisonment. For purposes of this section, 'life imprisonment' means until death of the offender. No person sentenced to life imprisonment pursuant to this section is eligible for parole, community supervision, or any early release program, nor is the person eligible to receive any work credits, education credits, good conduct credits, or any other credits that would reduce the mandatory life imprisonment required by this section. No person sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for thirty years pursuant to this section is eligible for parole or any early release program, nor is the person eligible to receive any work credits, education credits, good conduct credits, or any other credits that would reduce the mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for thirty years required by this section. . . . When the Governor commutes a sentence of death to life imprisonment under the provisions of Section 14 of Article IV of the Constitution of South Carolina, 1895, the commutee is not eligible for parole, community supervision, or any early release program, nor is the person eligible to receive any work credits, good conduct credits, education credits, or any other credits that would reduce the mandatory imprisonment required by this subsection."
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