Court Opinion

ID: 9472607
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:05:28.519139+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:02.292051
License: Public Domain

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge,
specially concurring.
I wholly concur in the result reached and write separately only to emphasize that district courts should not read the court’s opinion as an endorsement of this kind of commentary, regardless of the intent, about the performance of witnesses in the presence of the jury. As appellant notes, this kind of commentary may appear, and can be so interpreted by a reasonable juror, to place the judicial thumb of approval on the scales of justice in the state’s favor.
With respect to the exclusion of appellant’s testimony about the circumstances surrounding his prior pleas of guilty, I would have given the statute in question a broader interpretation. The statute expressly provides that “[djefendant shall have the right to hear and controvert such evidence and to offer evidence in his support.” Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1005(2) (1981). In my view a broader interpretation would be more consistent with the purpose behind a bifurcated trial procedure; I would adopt a more inclusive standard of admissibility in the penalty phase. In any event, I recognize that the state supreme court has adopted a different interpretation and, because I can find no constitutional violation, I concur in the affirmance of the judgment of the district court.