OUJI-CR 4-72

DEATH PENALTY PROCEEDINGS - AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES

You are instructed that, in arriving at your determination of punishment, you must first determine whether any one or more of the following aggravating circumstances exists beyond a reasonable doubt:

  1. The defendant, prior to this sentencing proceeding, was convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person;
  2. During the commission of the murder, the defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person;
  3. The person committed the murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration or employed another to commit the murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
  4. The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel;
  5. The murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest or prosecution;
  6. The murder was committed by a person while serving a sentence of imprisonment on conviction of a felony;
  7. The victim of the murder was a peace officer or correctional employee of an institution under the control of the Department of Corrections, and such person was killed in performance of official duty; or
  8. At the present time there exists a probability that the defendant will commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society.

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Notes on Use

    The trial judge should list only the aggravating circumstance(s) upon which proof has been offered by the State during the second-stage proceeding and of which the defendant was notified prior to trial.

Committee Comments

    The Court of Criminal Appeals modified Paragraph 1 of this instruction in McCarty v. State, 1999 OK CR 18, ¶ 6, 977 P.2d 1116, 1141.

2012 SUPPLEMENT