Opinion ID: 68082
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Texas’s Mitigating Evidence Instruction

Text: Cantu next asserts that the method by which the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure presents the issue of mitigating evidence to a sentencing jury improperly prevents the consideration of constitutionally relevant evidence. The district court concluded that the state court’s rejection of this argument was not an unreasonable application of federal law, and we conclude that reasonable jurists would not disagree with that determination. Texas presents the question of mitigating evidence to a jury through article 37.071, sections 2(e)(1) and 2(f)(4) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. At the time of Cantu’s trial, § 2(e)(1) stated: The court shall instruct the jury that if the jury returns an affirmative finding to each issue submitted under Subsection (b), it shall answer the following issue: Whether, taking into consideration all of the evidence, including the circumstances of the offense, the defendant’s character and background, and the personal moral culpability of the defendant, there is a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment rather than a death sentence be imposed. T EX. C ODE C RIM. P ROC. art. 37.071, § 2(e)(1) (1991). Section 2(f)(4) stated: The court shall charge the jury that in answering the issue submitted under Subsection (e) of this article, the jury: