Cite as: 532 U. S. 36 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
Shafer had urged that a Simmons instruction was warranted under the new sentencing scheme, for when the jury serves as sentencer, i. e., when it finds a statutory aggravating circumstance, sentencing discretion is limited to death or life without the possibility of parole. See 340 S. C., at 298, 531 S. E. 2d, at 528. The South Carolina Supreme Court read Simmons differently. In its view, "Simmons requires the trial judge instruct the jury the defendant is parole ineligible only if no other sentence than death, other than life without the possibility of parole, is legally available to the defendant." 340 S. C., at 298, 531 S. E. 2d, at 528 (emphasis in original) (citing Simmons, 512 U. S., at 178 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment)). "At the time [Shafer's] jury began its deliberations," the court observed, "three alternative sentences were available"; "[s]ince one of these alternatives to death was not life without the possibility of parole," the court concluded, "Simmons was inapplicable." 340 S. C., at 299, 531 S. E. 2d, at 528.
Chief Justice Finney dissented. "[T]he overriding principle to be drawn from [Simmons]," he stated, "is that due process is violated when a jury's speculative misunderstanding about a capital defendant's parole eligibility is allowed to go uncorrected." Id., at 310, 531 S. E. 2d, at 534. Due process mandates reversal here, he concluded, because "the jury's inquiry prompted a misleading response which suggested parole was a possibility." Ibid. Moreover, Chief Justice Finney added, when "a capital jury inquires about parole," id., at 310, n. 2, 531 S. E. 2d, at 534, n. 2, even if the question "is simply one of policy, as the majority suggests [it is], then why not adopt a policy which gives the jurors the simpl[e] truth: no parole." Id., at 311, 531 S. E. 2d, at 534.
lent crimes . . . ." § 24-21-640. This latter provision has not been amended; however, it did not apply to Shafer. Here, we consider whether South Carolina's wholesale elimination of parole for capital defendants sentenced to life in prison, see S. C. Code Ann. § 16-3-20 (2000 Cum. Supp.), described supra, at 40-41, requires a Simmons instruction in all South Carolina capital cases in which future dangerousness is "at issue."
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