56
Thomas, J., dissenting
Carolina, 512 U. S. 154 (1994). Now, whenever future dangerousness is placed at issue and the jury's potential sentencing choice is between life without parole and death, the trial court must instruct the jury on the impossibility of release even if there is an alternative sentence available to the court under which the defendant could be released. However, even accepting that sentencing courts in South Carolina must now permit the jury to learn about the impossibility of parole when life imprisonment is a sentencing possibility, I believe that the court's instructions and the arguments made by counsel in Shafer's case were sufficient to inform the jury of what "life imprisonment" meant for Shafer. I therefore respectfully dissent.
In Simmons, a majority of this Court was concerned that the jury in Simmons' trial reasonably could have believed that, if he were sentenced to life, he would be eligible for parole. See id., at 161 (plurality opinion); id., at 177-178 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment). Therefore, Simmons' defense to future dangerousness—that because he sexually assaulted only elderly women, he would pose no danger to fellow inmates, see id., at 157 (plurality opinion)—would not have been effective. To correct the jury's possible misunderstanding of the availability of parole, Simmons requested several jury instructions, including one that would explain that, if he were sentenced to life imprisonment, " 'he actually w[ould] be sentenced to imprisonment in the state penitentiary for the balance of his natural life.' " Id., at 160. The trial court rejected this instruction and instead ambiguously informed the jury that the term life imprisonment is to be understood according to its " 'plain and ordinary meaning,' " which did "nothing to dispel the misunderstanding reasonable jurors may have about the way in which any particular State defines 'life imprisonment.' " Id., at 169-170.
In this case, by contrast, the judge repeatedly explained that "life imprisonment means until the death of the defendant." App. 201. The judge defined "life imprisonment" as
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