Cite as: 532 U. S. 36 (2001)
Thomas, J., dissenting
"incarceration of the defendant until his death," id., at 209, and informed the jury that, if it chose the punishment of life imprisonment, the verdict form would read " 'We, the jury . . . unanimously recommend that the defendant, Wesley Aaron Shafer, be imprisoned in the state penitentiary for the balance of his natural life.' " Id., at 213-214. Emphasizing this very point, Shafer's counsel argued to the jury that Shafer would never leave prison if he received a life sentence. See id., at 192 ("The question is will the State execute him or will he just die in prison"); id., at 194 ("putting a 19 year old in prison until he is dead" and "you can put him some place until he is dead"); id., at 198 ("When they say give [him] life, he's not going home. . . . I'm just asking for the smallest amount of mercy it takes to make a man, a child spend the rest of his life in prison").
Given these explanations of what life imprisonment means, which left no room for speculation by the jury, I can only infer that the jury's questions regarding parole referred not to Shafer's parole eligibility in the event the jury sentenced Shafer to life, but rather to his parole eligibility in the event it did not sentence him at all. In fact, both of the jury's questions referred only to parole eligibility of someone "convicted of murder," id., at 239-240 (" '[I]s there any remote chance that someone convicted of murder could become eligible for parole' "); id., at 240 (" '[U]nder what conditions would someone convicted for murder be eligible [for parole]' "), rather than parole eligibility of someone sentenced to life imprisonment. Under South Carolina law, if the jury does not find an aggravating circumstance, someone convicted of murder could be sentenced to a term of 30 years' imprisonment or greater. See S. C. Code Ann. § 16-3-20(C) (2000 Cum. Supp.). If the jury thought Shafer's release from prison was a possibility in the event the judge sentenced him, they would have been correct. To be sure, under South Carolina's sentencing scheme, the jury did not need to know what sentencing options were available to the judge in the
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