Opinion ID: 1528630
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: trial court limited the defendant's right to present mitigating evidence

Text: During the penalty stage of the trial, the Defendant presented the testimony of Dr. John Hutson, a clinical psychologist, who was an expert in the field of forensic psychology. The Defendant alleges that the court's sustaining the State's objections to Dr. Hutson's testimony that the Beta IQ test was not a valid tool for measuring IQ and not allowing the doctor to explain this opinion violated Defendant's right to present mitigating evidence under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution and Article I, Sections 8 and 16, of the Tennessee Constitution. At the sentencing phase, after testifying about Defendant's scores on the intelligence test recently administered to him in May 1991 and on the tests taken during grade school, Dr. Hutson was asked if he had found any kind of IQ score in Defendant's records from the Department of Corrections. Dr. Hutson testified that Defendant had received an 88 score on a Beta IQ in 1966. As Dr. Hutson, asked to explain the Beta IQ, began to testify about the test's development and its invalidity as a measure of intelligence, the State objected several times. The trial court sustained the objections and denied Defendant's request to make an offer of proof. At a jury-out hearing it became apparent the State felt that this line of questioning was improper as an attempt by Defendant to impeach his own witness and that this inquiry should be allowed only on redirect after the State had brought out the Beta IQ evaluation. The reason expressed by the trial judge for sustaining the State's objections is not clear. The court seems to have erroneously felt that the legal issue of mental retardation had been decided by his earlier pre-trial decision and that Dr. Hutson's testimony that the Beta IQ was invalid was enough proof on this issue. After the jury returned, Dr. Hutson testified that the two IQ tests most commonly used were the Wechsler and Stanford-Binet. This question and his answer implied that these two were valid IQ tests in comparison with the Beta IQ test. In a capital sentencing hearing, evidence may be presented as to any matter the Court deems relevant to the punishment, including the Defendant's character, background history, and physical condition, and any matter relevant to establish or rebut any mitigating factors. T.C.A. § 39-13-204(c). See also Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 884-85, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 2747, 77 L.Ed.2d 235 (1983) (evidence is admissible at capital sentencing so long as it is relevant, reliable and not prejudicial); Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 202-03, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2939, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976) ([i]t is desirable for the jury to have as much information before it as possible when it makes the sentencing decision). The Defendant's score on the Beta IQ and Dr. Hutson's opinions about the test were relevant to sentencing. The United States Supreme Court held in Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1, 106 S.Ct. 1669, 90 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986), that exclusion of relevant mitigating evidence from a sentencing hearing violates the Eighth Amendment. In the present case, however, any error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because, by asking about the intelligence tests Dr. Hutson considered valid, the Defendant presented this mitigating factor to the jury.