Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 182.0

Cite as: 558 U. S. 15 (2009) 

21 

Per Curiam 

All  told,  Schick  put  nine  witnesses  on  the  stand  over  a 
span  of  two  days,  and  elicited  a  range  of  testimony  on  Bel­
montes’  behalf.  A  number  of  those  witnesses  highlighted 
Belmontes’  “terrible”  childhood.  They  testiﬁed  that  his  fa­
ther  was  an  alcoholic  and  extremely  abusive.  Belmontes’ 
grandfather  described  the  one-bedroom  house  where  Bel­
montes  spent  much  of  his  childhood  as  a  “chicken  coop.” 
Belmontes  did  not  do  well  in  school;  he  dropped  out  in  the 
ninth grade.  His younger sister died when she was only 10 
months old.  And his grandmother died tragically when she 
drowned  in  her  swimming  pool.  See  Record  2314–2319, 
2324–2325, 2344. 

Family  members  also  testiﬁed  that,  despite  these  difﬁcul­
ties,  Belmontes  maintained  strong  relationships  with  his 
grandfather, grandmother, mother, and sister.  Id., at 2317– 
2318, 2325–2326.  And Belmontes’ best friend offered the in­
sights of a close friend and conﬁdant.  Id., at 2329–2332. 

Schick also called witnesses who detailed Belmontes’ reli­
gious  conversion  while  in  state  custody  on  the  accessory 
charge.  These  witnesses  told  stories  about  Belmontes’  ef­
forts  advising  other  inmates  in  his  detention  center’s  reli­
gious  program,  to  illustrate  that  he  could  live  a  productive 
and  meaningful  life  in  prison.  They  described  his  success 
working as part of a ﬁreﬁghting crew, detailing his rise from 
lowest man on the team to second in command.  Belmontes’ 
assistant chaplain even said that he would use Belmontes as 
a  regular  part  of  his  prison  counseling  program  if  the  jury 
handed  down  a  life  sentence.  Id.,  at  2379–2384,  2396–2398, 
2400–2407. 

Belmontes  himself  bolstered  these  accounts  by  testifying 
about  his  childhood  and  religious  conversion,  both  at  sen­
tencing  and  during  allocution.  Belmontes  described  his 
childhood  as  “pretty  hard,”  but  took  responsibility  for  his 
actions, telling the jury that he did not want to use his back­
ground  “as  a  crutch[,]  to  say  I  am  in  a  situation  right  now 
. . . because of that.”  Id., at 2343.