Brazell v. State

The defendant was indicted for the capital offense involving the robbery and intentional murder of Joseph Eugene Nichols. Alabama Code Section 13A-5-31 (a)(2) (1975). A jury found him guilty of murder. Alabama Code Section 13A-6-2 (1975). Sentence was life imprisonment.

I

In his oral instructions the trial judge charged the jury on the minimum and maximum sentences for various lesser included offenses (murder; robbery I, II and III; theft I; and manslaughter). The trial judge also instructed the jury that "it is the burden of the Judge to impose the penalty. You are not burdened with that…