Opinion ID: 1681690
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Competency, Mitigation, and the Penalty Phase

Text: At a competency hearing held before the penalty phase, several doctors testified: two psychiatrists and two neuropsychologists. During the penalty phase, Dr. Jethro Toomer, a psychologist who evaluated Jones, testified for the defense that Jones was abandoned by his mother, that the statutory mitigator of extreme mental or emotional disturbance applied, and that Jones suffered from borderline personality disorder. Dr. Charles Mutter, a forensic psychiatrist, testified for the State to rebut this testimony. At the Spencer [1] hearing, Dr. Hyman Eisenstein testified for the defense that as a result of the gunshot wound, Jones was not competent. No one testified that Jones was mentally retarded. Laura Long, an aunt of Jones who raised him, testified that he performed well in elementary school and was well behaved until about age 11 when he became a runaway and used drugs. The court found three aggravators, but no mitigation, and sentenced Jones to death for both murders. We affirmed. Jones, 652 So.2d at 349.