Opinion ID: 1057584
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Exclusion of Testimony was Error

Text: Our capital sentencing scheme permits a jury to impose the death penalty only upon adequate proof of certain enumerated aggravating factors. Mitigation proof is not so limited, however. Rather, the jury is required to consider any mitigating circumstances that are raised by the proof at either the guilt or sentencing hearing. Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-204(j), (j)(9) (2003). Specific examples of mitigating circumstances are set forth in the statute: (1) The defendant has no significant history of prior criminal activity; (2) The murder was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance; (3) The victim was a participant in the defendant's conduct or consented to the act; (4) The murder was committed under circumstances that the defendant reasonably believed to provide a moral justification for the defendant's conduct; (5) The defendant was an accomplice in the murder committed by another person and the defendant's participation was relatively minor; (6) The defendant acted under extreme duress or under the substantial domination of another person; (7) The youth or advanced age of the defendant at the time of the crime; (8) The capacity of the defendant to appreciate the wrongfulness of the defendant's conduct or to conform the defendant's conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired as a result of mental disease or defect or intoxication, which was insufficient to establish a defense to the crime but which substantially affected the defendant's judgment[.] Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-204(j). Further, the United States Supreme Court has declared that the federal constitution requires the jury in a capital case be allowed to consider mitigating evidence, including any aspect of a 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. Lockett, 438 U.S. at 604, 98 S.Ct. 2954; see also Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-204(j)(9) (mandating that the jury consider as mitigating circumstances [a]ny other mitigating factor which is raised by the evidence produced by either the prosecution or defense at either the guilt or sentencing hearing). And, this Court has recognized that article I, §§ 8 and 16 of the Tennessee Constitution require that the jury not be prevented from hearing evidence about the defendant's background, record, and character, and any circumstances about the offense that may mitigate against the death penalty. State v. Stout, 46 S.W.3d 689, 704 (Tenn.2001). This Court has previously recognized the probative value of a capital defendant's family members' testimony about their relationship with the defendant. See, e.g., State v. Thacker, 164 S.W.3d 208, 224 (Tenn.2005) (Testimony concerning the defendant's estranged relationship with his parents was relevant as mitigating evidence.); State v. Cauthern, 967 S.W.2d 726, 738-39 (Tenn.1998) (holding that trial court erred in excluding letter to defendant from young son expressing love and support). Defendant's parents should have been allowed to testify at the sentencing hearing in spite of their attendance at Defendant's trial, and we hold that the trial court erred in excluding this mitigation testimony. We must, therefore, determine the result of this error. [T]he exclusion of mitigating evidence potentially undermines the reliability of the sentencing determination, and is an error of constitutional magnitude. Thus, the burden is on the State to prove that the error did not affect the verdict and, therefore, was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 739 (citing Skipper, 476 U.S. at 4, 106 S.Ct. 1669; Satterwhite v. Texas, 486 U.S. 249, 258, 108 S.Ct. 1792, 100 L.Ed.2d 284 (1988); Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967)).