Opinion ID: 1369544
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Hearsay, opinion, and speculative victim impact testimony

Text: Storey claims that trial counsel erred by not objecting that victim impact from Gladys and Timothy Frey and Robert and Trinje Reidelberger exceeded Payne's bounds, was hearsay, opinion and speculation. Robert and Trinje Reidelberger testified of how Ms. Frey had facilitated Robert's learning. Ms. Frey's mother and brother testified that Ms. Frey's murder contributed to her father's death. Storey complains that the murder occurred 10 years before and could not be the actual cause of Mr. Frey's death. As a general rule, the trial court has discretion during the punishment phase of trial to admit whatever evidence it deems helpful to the jury in assessing punishment. Storey, 40 S.W.3d at 908 (internal citations omitted). The Freys did not offer this testimony as a medical opinion of causation, but only as their perception of the continuing impact of this crime on their family during three retrials, three appeals, and a post-conviction hearing. Storey presented 10 mitigating witnesses, including seven close friends or family who testified all about Storey's life from the time he was a few months old up to the time of his imprisonment. Each told of horrible abuses suffered by Storey growing up in a terrible family. Storey was permitted to present mitigating evidence to help the jury assess punishment. The evidence Ms. Frey's friends and family presented is simply another form or method of informing the sentencing authority about the specific harm caused by the crime in question. Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 825, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991). Counsel is not deemed ineffective for declining to make a non-meritorious objection. Six, 805 S.W.2d at 167.