Opinion ID: 664663
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Personality Disorder

Text: 15 At the punishment phase of the trial, clinical psychologist Dr. Jim Whitley, who had examined Madden twice, testified that Madden suffers from a personality avoidance disorder, which Dr. Whitley characterized as a clinical mental illness that impairs Madden's ability to think and react in a logical manner. Madden's particular personality disorder impairs his ability to interact with others and form relationships, causing him to run from conflict. Thus, the testimony established that a person with a personality avoidance disorder was generally not violent. The disorder does not, however, prevent Madden from understanding the wrongfulness of his actions. 16 According to Dr. Whitley, the disorder also makes Madden more susceptible to substance abuse. In Madden's case, Dr. Whitley concluded that the combined effects of the personality disorder and the long term drug abuse had caused Madden to suffer diminished capacity. Diminished capacity, in psychological terms, refers to a deterioration or distortion of one's ability to make logical and rational decisions. 17 The first inquiry in a Penry claim is whether the mitigating evidence is relevant. Phrased differently, does the evidence implicate the basic concern of Penry that defendants who commit criminal acts that are attributable to a disadvantaged background, or to emotional and mental problems, may be less culpable than defendants who have no such excuse. 10 In Penry, the defendant's mental retardation rendered him less able than a normal adult to control his impulses or to evaluate the consequences of his conduct. 11 Thus, there was a clear nexus between Penry's handicap and his criminal act; the criminal act was attributable to his severe permanent handicap. The testimony of Dr. Whitley established that Madden has an emotional disorder specifically, an anti-social personality. The relevance of this disorder to Madden's crime, however, is less than clear. 18 Certainly, the evidence establishes generally that persons with such personality disorders are more likely to use drugs, and that drug users are more likely than non-users to engage in violent behavior. There is no evidence, however, that Madden was intoxicated at the time of the murders. To the contrary, there is evidence that he had finally gained some control over his addiction. Thus, it cannot be said that Madden's tendency towards substance abuse is directly responsible for the instant crime, i.e., that the crime is attributable to such abuse in the Graham sense. 19 Conspicuously absent from the testimony of Dr. Whitley is any general statement that a person with a personality avoidance disorder is more aggressive or violent than an unafflicted person, or any specific statement that Madden is. To the contrary, Dr. Whitley testified that victims of such a disorder are less aggressive--except when they are intoxicated. Also noticeably absent in this testimony was evidence that Madden was incapable of controlling his impulses or unable to distinguish right from wrong. Rather, Dr. Whitley specifically stated that a personality disorder does not impair one's ability to understand the wrongfulness of his actions. 20 Based on this evidence, we conclude that there is insubstantial evidence that Madden's criminal actions are attributable to his anti-social personality. Thus, the state court did not err by refusing to give additional instructions.2. Learning Disability 21 Madden's learning disability does not fall within the ambit of Penry. In Graham, we emphasized that Penry's evidence was strongly mitigating because these characteristics were due to the uniquely severe permanent handicaps with which the defendant was burdened through no fault of his own, mental retardation, organic brain damage, and an abused childhood. 12 By imposing the requirement that a handicap be uniquely severe, we acknowledged that not all organic brain damage will establish a Penry claim; rather, organic brain damage is an example of the type of evidence that we require as a minimum for a challenge under Penry. Although dyslexia may be defined as an organic brain impairment, it is not so uniquely severe that it rises to the level of a Penry claim. 3. Troubled Childhood 22 Madden presented evidence of a troubled childhood, including abuse while an infant. His father left his mother when Madden was two and subsequently remarried. Madden's step-father adopted him when the boy was five years old, and there is no allegation that the adoptive father abused Madden. There is, in fact, evidence that Madden's adoptive father was a very concerned parent. 23 In Barnard v. Collins, we recognized that an abused childhood could rise to the level of a Penry claim if the traumatic events caused psychological effects to which the criminal conduct was attributable. 13 Although Dr. Whitley's testimony linked Madden's personality disorder to his childhood, we have concluded above that his personality disorder is not linked causally to the criminal act. As there is no other evidence regarding the effect of this short-lived abuse on Madden, he fails to produce substantial evidence that his childhood abuse (if abuse it truly was) had such a psychological effect on him that it led to the criminal act. 24 We conclude, then, that Madden's reliance on his personality disorder, his learning disability, and his troubled childhood as mitigation in support of his Penry claim, is misplaced. To grant relief on a Penry claim, we must determine (1) that the proffered evidence was constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence, and, if so, (2) that the proffered evidence was beyond the effective reach of the jurors. 14 Thus rejection of a Penry claim does not necessarily mean in every case that the jury was able to evaluate the proffered evidence fully and fairly. A Penry claim rejection may also be based on the failure of the evidence relied upon by the petitioner to be constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence. As we find such failure here, we need not and therefore do not consider the ability of the jury to consider under the Texas special issues the evidence pointed to by Madden. 15 4. Prosecutor's Statements 25 Madden also insists that the jury could not consider the mitigating evidence because (1) the court failed to define the word deliberately in the first special issue and (2) the prosecutor suggested that the jurors were not to consider the evidence and that they were not there to determine whether Madden lived or died. As we have held that Madden's evidence was irrelevant, these arguments are moot. In any event, we have held consistently that the word deliberately is clear to the average juror and needs no additional definition. Concerns as to any possible ambiguity arise only when the special issues have not given full effect to the mitigating evidence. Moreover, as Madden failed to raise the second argument before the district court, he cannot raise it for the first time on appeal. 16