Opinion ID: 2333029
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Penalty Mitigation

Text: Neal asserts that the trial judge committed reversible error by depriving him the opportunity to present important mitigating evidence during the penalty phase. He raises two issues regarding this claim which we will address separately. Neal maintains that he should have been allowed to introduce the plea offers made by the Commonwealth. In Haight v. Commonwealth, Ky., 41 S.W.3d 436 (2001), we recognized a split of authority on the issue which had yet to be decided. We stated the following in Haight, supra : Haight maintains that defense counsel was ineffective by not introducing evidence during the penalty phase that the Commonwealth had previously entered into a plea bargain. He asserts that he has a right to have the jury which sentenced him consider mitigating evidence. The question of whether a defendant has the right to introduce evidence of a withdrawn guilty plea as mitigating evidence has not been decided in the Commonwealth. There appears to be a split of authority on the issue. See Wright & Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure: Evidence § 5348 (1980). In terms of our rules, there is a potential conflict between KRE 410, which provides that withdrawn guilty pleas are not admissible against the defendant, and KRE 408, which provides that compromises and offers of compromise are inadmissible. The Commonwealth argues that Haight's prior guilty plea is inadmissible under KRE 408. The argument is not without merit or support. See Id. On the other hand, Haight argues that KRE 408 is limited to civil cases. See United States v. Baker and Mazzilli, 926 F.2d 179 (2nd Cir.1991), construing KRE 408. The question is really whether a plea offer is mitigating evidence. It is not. The frequently cited Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978), determined that a defendant should not be precluded from considering as a mitigating factor, any aspect of the defendant's character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant offered as a basis for a sentence less than death. Here, the sentence was life in prison. In Footnote 12 in Lockett, supra , the U.S. Supreme Court also noted that nothing in this opinion limits the traditional authority of the court to exclude, as irrelevant, evidence not bearing on the defendant's character, prior record, or the circumstances of his offense. A plea offer by the prosecution is not an aspect of the character of the defendant, nor is it a circumstance of the offense, or a mitigating aspect of the record of the defendant. The only pertinent inquiry for the jury in this case was what the jury believed was the appropriate punishment for the crimes. Evidence about the plea offer made by the prosecutor is not mitigating evidence under the Eighth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, or Lockett . The sentencing recommendation of the prosecutor is not an aspect of Neal's character or the circumstances of the offense. In Clark v. Commonwealth, Ky., 833 S.W.2d 793 (1991), we held that no party may present evidence which would lead the jury to believe that the responsibility for determining the appropriate sentence rests elsewhere. The plea offer could create considerable doubt as to whether the penalty was imposed because the prosecutor offered it to the defendant. In the final analysis, it is the jury that must determine the appropriate punishment and the proper sentence. Neal also complains that the Commonwealth should have been precluded from rebutting his mitigating evidence of rehabilitation with evidence of disciplinary write-ups that Neal incurred while in jail. At the penalty phase, Neal sought to introduce evidence regarding his participation in and completion of several classes in the Teen Challenge Program while incarcerated in support of his claim that he was capable of rehabilitation. The Commonwealth responded that it intended to introduce records of any disciplinary write-ups that Neal incurred in jail as rebuttal evidence. The trial judge ruled that the introduction of that rebuttal evidence would have been allowed. Neal did not introduce the information but offered it by way of avowal. We agree with the trial judge that the information the Commonwealth intended to introduce would have been admissible as rebuttal evidence.