Opinion ID: 1800634
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to present available evidence in mitigation

Text: ¶ 26. Hodges make a general argument here, and it appears that this issue serves as an introduction to the specific arguments made in the next four issues. Hodges does argue that an instruction offered by his trial counsel contained four mitigating circumstances and the trial court erred in refusing the instruction. Hodges states that the trial court only allowed one mitigating circumstance to go to the jury, but also states that [t]here was no evidence nor argument offered at trial to support the first three factors. ¶ 27. In his Reply/Supplement Hodges identifies numerous members of his family that have attached affidavits and say now that they would have testified if they had been called as witnesses. Their testimony would have included Quintez's family history and his relationship with his mother and his relationship with Cora Johnson. Hodges also states that his cousin, Lakasha Hodges, could have disputed the testimony of prosecution witness Anthony Betts as to events of the night of the shooting. Betts testified that Quintez Hodges had stated the weekend before the shooting that he was going to buy a gun and kill somebody. This was the real value of Betts's testimony and Lakasha Hodges does not claim to be able to dispute this. In addition, each time one of the proposed witnesses testified that Quintez Hodges was a good, peaceful, misunderstood person, they would have opened the door for cross-examination and renewed emphasis by the State on Hodges's prior criminal actions, as happened to Lisa and Chris Hodges, who testified during sentencing.