Opinion ID: 1945465
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The Exclusion of Michael Galemore's Testimony

Text: Troy's next claim involves the exclusion of the proffered testimony of Department of Corrections official Michael Galemore, an assistant warden at the Polk County Correctional Institution. He asserts that this exclusion violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments because Galemore's testimony was relevant to the mitigating factor of Troy's potential for rehabilitation and positive contribution in a structured prison environment. According to the trial records, defense counsel planned to call Galemore to testify that, hypothetically, were Troy sentenced to life imprisonment, it would be considered close custody, that Troy would be supervised in a particular fashion, and that he would work while in prison. Galemore was also to testify regarding the presence of drugs in prison, specifically that they are not easily obtained. The trial judge granted the State's motion to exclude him as a witness, emphasizing that Galemore had no personal knowledge of the defendant or the case. The trial judge made clear that defense counsel still had the right to argue potential parole ineligibility to the jury as a mitigating factor, to present evidence as to whether Troy would pose a threat to prison personnel or other inmates, and to argue whether he was well-suited to imprisonment. Defense counsel made use of all of these options, presenting witnesses in mitigation regarding Troy's behavior in prison, [9] and arguing during closing that, if the jury chose life imprisonment, John Troy will be in prison until the day he dies. A trial court's ruling on the admission of evidence is reviewed by an appellate court under an abuse of discretion standard. Randolph v. State, 853 So.2d 1051, 1062 (Fla.2003) (The admissibility of evidence lies in the sound discretion of the trial court and trial court decisions will be affirmed absent a showing of abuse of discretion.). We conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding Galemore's testimony. First, it should be noted that Galemore's testimony was offered during the penalty phase of Troy's trial, which lasted over four and a half days. Defense counsel called twenty-nine witnesses during this phase, indicating that the judge was not categorically excluding mitigation evidence or the presentation of defense witnesses. Furthermore, Galemore had never met Troy, nor had he ever witnessed Troy during one of his periods of incarceration, making his potential assessment regarding Troy's possible prison experience entirely speculative. When considered in context of the entire penalty phase, the other witnesses called, and the arguments defense counsel nevertheless made regarding a possible life sentence, the exclusion of Galemore as a witness was not an abuse of discretion.