Opinion ID: 1829968
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 37

Heading: Life As a Mitigating Circumstance

Text: Hansen argues further that the Circuit Court erred when it refused to allow evidence that he would adapt well to prison life in the future. He points particularly to Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1, 106 S.Ct. 1669, 90 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986), wherein the Court wrote: [E]vidence that the defendant would not pose a danger if spared (but incarcerated) must be considered potentially mitigating. Skipper, 476 U.S. at 5, 106 S.Ct. at 1671, 90 L.Ed.2d at 7. All of this is but an elaboration upon the familiar lesson of Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 2964, 57 L.Ed.2d 973, 989-900 (1978): the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require that the sentencer ... not be precluded from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of a defendant's character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. The Constitution demands individualized sentencing and prohibits a court from excluding any relevant mitigating evidence as a matter of law. Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 113-14, 102 S.Ct. 869, 876-77, 71 L.Ed.2d 1, 10-11 (1982). We have long accepted the rule, but it does not produce the result Hansen seeks. At issue is a small portion of the proffered testimony of Fred Weist, a prison counselor from Florida who knew Hansen while the latter was incarcerated within that state's correctional system. The Court allowed Weist substantial liberties in testifying about Hansen's past. The Court sustained the prosecution's objections to Weist's opinion how Hansen would adapt to prison life in the future and as to whether Hansen was treatable in any prison setting. The Court held this testimony speculative and without foundation. Our review of the record fails to reflect Weist qualified or accepted as an expert in predicting future behavior. See Rule 702, Miss.R.Ev. We find no error in the Circuit Court's action regarding Weist's testimony. The Court also excluded from evidence a letter of reference Eddie Holt had written to the Court, prior to learning he was going to testify, saying it was cumulative of his actual testimony. Rule 403, Miss.R.Ev. Holt was allowed to testify about his visit with Hansen and the Bible studies Hansen had undertaken and completed, as well as other aspects of his relationship with and observations of Hansen. We find no error in excluding the letter.