Opinion ID: 2084902
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: issues

Text: After the jury returned a recommendation of the death penalty, the trial court, sua sponte ordered that the defendant be examined by Dr. Vargas, a psychologist. The substance of Dr. Vargas' report was that the tests given to the defendant indicated that he was in the lowest seven (7) percent of the population as to general intelligence, acts on feelings and impulses, without intelligent reflection or analysis and tended not to learn from experiences. The court considered the report, along with the evidence presented at the trial and the sentencing hearing, in arriving at its decision to impose the death penalty, and the defendant now contends that he did not have access to such report and that it was therefore error for the court to consider it. He cites Gardner v. Florida, (1977) 430 U.S. 349, 97 S.Ct. 1197, 51 L.Ed.2d 393, but that case does not support his argument. In Gardner, supra, the court held that it was a denial of due process to sentence one to death, when such sentence was based, in part, upon information which the defendant had had no opportunity to deny or explain. Additionally, in that case, the record did not contain the undisclosed information, thereby frustrating meaningful appellate review. We first note that although the record does not indicate that a copy of Dr. Vargas' report was ever formally served upon the defendant or his counsel, neither does it reflect or suggest that he was denied access to it. Defendant and his counsel were aware that the examination had been made, and when the sentence was pronounced, the court made reference to the report, and no protest was made. The denial of such access was not assigned in the first motion to correct error but was made a point of contention in the belated motion to correct error. At the hearing thereon, counsel acknowledged that the report was available to him at the time of sentencing, although he did not recall when he had received it; and in announcing its ruling upon the belated motion to correct error, the court stated that the report had been available to defense counsel. In Gardner, supra, the trial court disdained the jury's recommendation and sentenced the defendant to death, but in the case before us, the court followed the recommendation, for which there was ample basis. The reasons given by the trial court for imposing the death sentence reflect that his purpose in ordering the examination was to determine if there were circumstances that militated against the recommendation. There was nothing about the report that was prejudicial to Defendant's interest.