What is the test for determining whether an instruction prevents a jury from considering mitigating evidence?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Mickey, 286 Cal.Rptr. 801, 54 Cal.3d 612, 818 P.2d 84 (Cal. 1991):
When the claimed barrier to the jury's consideration of relevant mitigating evidence is an instruction, the crucial question for determining error "is whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury has applied the challenged instruction in a way that prevents the consideration of" such evidence. (Boyde v. California, supra, 494 U.S. 370, ----, 110 S.Ct. 1190, 1198, 108 L.Ed.2d 316.)
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