Puiatti v. Buss

Issue: Does a joint capital penalty phase implicate a defendant's Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to an individualized sentencing determination; if so, are those rights violated when a trial court fails to sever a joint capital penalty proceeding despite a likelihood of prejudice and confusion, and never clearly instructs the jury to consider the aggravating and mitigating evidence separately as to each defendant, and to return different sentences if the evidence so warrants.