Opinion ID: 219723
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exclusion of Additional EED Evidence in Penalty Phase

Text: Petitioner asserts that the Kentucky trial court violated his rights under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments when it excluded testimony of six witnesses during the mitigation phase of his trial. Petitioner sought to introduce additional testimony regarding his marital difficulties and the tensions between the Matthews and Cruse families. We have stated that [i]n a capital case the sentencer may not be precluded from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of defendant's character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. Lundgren, 440 F.3d at 766 (quoting Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367, 374, 108 S.Ct. 1860, 100 L.Ed.2d 384 (1988)). Moreover, [i]t is clear that this rule limits the traditional discretion of state courts to exclude evidence based on state evidentiary rules, Alley v. Bell, 307 F.3d 380, 398 (6th Cir. 2002), and requires that state courts making evidentiary decisions in capital cases err on the side of admission. Nevertheless, the Eighth Amendment does not deprive the State of its authority to set reasonable limits upon the evidence a defendant can submit, and to control the manner in which it is submitted. Rather, States are free to structure and shape consideration of mitigating evidence in an effort to achieve a more rational and equitable administration of the death penalty. Oregon v. Guzek, 546 U.S. 517, 526, 126 S.Ct. 1226, 163 L.Ed.2d 1112 (2006). Nothing in Supreme Court precedent limits the traditional authority of a court to exclude, as irrelevant, evidence not bearing on the defendant's character, prior record, or the circumstances of his offense. Alley, 307 F.3d at 399 (quoting Lockett, 438 U.S. at 604 n. 12, 98 S.Ct. 2954). In discussing the trial court's decision to exclude this mitigation evidence, the Kentucky Supreme Court stated that [t]his claim of error runs to objections sustained as to certain details of the testimony from [Petitioner's] mother, from a longtime friend, and from a former attorney who had been involved in representing both the [Petitioner] and his wife when various domestic warrants between the two surfaced in court. Matthews I, 709 S.W.2d at 419. As a matter of state law, the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the trial court's exclusion of the evidence due to its irrelevance. In this case, the trial court permitted extensive presentation of evidence regarding previous domestic difficulties. The instances which are the subject of [Petitioner's] complaint were remote transactions between third parties and the deceased wife. Connection to [Petitioner's] state of mind at the time of the crime was non-existent. Id. Petitioner sought to introduce additional evidence regarding his acrimonious relationship with his victims, as well as evidence relating to Marlene's mistreatment of her previous husband. Under Kentucky law, at the sentencing phase of a capital trial, the jury is permitted to consider the mitigating evidence presented at the sentencing phase, and all of the culpability phase evidence. See Gall I, 607 S.W.2d at 111. Petitioner had previously presented significant evidence regarding his immediate and extended domestic disputes in the form of testimony from friends, relatives, and his psychiatrist. The Constitution does not guarantee a defendant, even a capital defendant, an unfettered license to present additional evidence that might be cumulative, repetitive, or questionably relevant. See Oregon, 546 U.S. at 526, 126 S.Ct. 1226; Alley, 307 F.3d at 399. The Kentucky courts did not err in upholding the trial court's decision, and the district court did not err in refusing to grant Petitioner's habeas corpus petition on this ground.