Opinion ID: 1563959
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Denial of Right to Present Mitigating Evidence

Text: Appellant next argues that his right to present mitigating evidence was improperly curtailed by the trial court. At a penalty hearing, a capital defendant may present relevant evidence in mitigation. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(a)(2); May, supra at 765. Evidence is relevant to mitigation if it is probative of any of the enumerated mitigating circumstances set forth at 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(e). Although Appellant presented evidence to the jury regarding five mitigating circumstances, his present argument concerns only the mitigating circumstances described at 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(e)(2), concerning whether the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance, and (e)(3), concerning whether the defendant had a substantially impaired capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law. With respect to the argument Appellant now raises, we note that [t]he admissibility of evidence, including evidence proffered at the penalty phase of a capital trial, is within the discretion of the trial court, and such rulings will form no basis for appellate relief absent an abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 588 Pa. 19, 902 A.2d 430, 459 (2006). Appellant's argument has two components. In the first, Appellant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to allow sentencing phase testimony by Christine Martone, M.D., the chief psychiatrist at the Allegheny County Behavior Clinic, an arm of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. In the second, Appellant contends that the court abused its discretion by precluding the publication to the jury of mitigating evidence in the form of a redacted portion of the March 2, 2001 recorded telephone conversation between Appellant and his parents, during which the parents expressed their opinion that Appellant's criminal actions stemmed from his mental illness.