Court Opinion

ID: 9772614
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:23:54.905714+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:46.301549
License: Public Domain

OVERSTREET, Judge,
concurring.
In point number three, appellant alleges, “The Trial Court erred in its charge to the jury during the punishment phase of the trial by failing to instruct the jury on the effect of parole, as parole would qualify as a ‘mitigating circumstance’ under the facts of this case.” Appellant’s argument in support of that point focuses upon the second special issue asking whether, after consideration of all of the mitigating evidence, there is a good reason for the defendant to be sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death. He notes that the United States Supreme Court has grappled with the proper role that the State may play in guiding juries in the assessment of punishment versus an improper restriction of the sentencing authority’s ability to exhibit mercy. He suggests that since the State must restrict the conduct for which the defendant becomes eligible for death, but must not restrict the senteneer in consideration of factors that might weigh against imposing a death sentence, the trial court’s absolute refusal to give the jury information about parole amounted to an instruction that the jury may not, or should not, consider it. Appellant insists that such impermissibly channeled the jury’s discretion to a sentence of death in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
As appellant’s claim avers error in terms of instructions on parole being mitigating evidence, I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the trial court’s refusal to charge the jury on the effect of parole was proper because I do not believe that such evidence is necessarily within the ambit of Penry. I also point out that this Court’s previous caselaw has held that a trial court properly refuses to instruct the jury at the punishment stage of a capital murder trial on the parole laws in Texas. Elliott v. State, 858 S.W.2d 478, 490 (Tex.Cr.App.1993), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 114 S.Ct. 563, 126 L.Ed.2d 463 (1993); Boyd v. State, 811 S.W.2d 105, 121 (Tex.Cr. App.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 971, 112 S.Ct. 448, 116 L.Ed.2d 466 (1991); Knox v. State, 744 S.W.2d 53, 62-64 (Tex.Cr.App. 1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1061, 108 S.Ct. 2834, 100 L.Ed.2d 934 (1988); Andrade v. State, 700 S.W.2d 585, 587-88 (Tex.Cr.App. 1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1112, 106 S.Ct. 1524, 89 L.Ed.2d 921 (1986).
Nevertheless, I point out that in Simmons v. South Carolina, — U.S.— , 114 S.Ct. 2187, 129 L.Ed.2d 133 (1994) the U.S. Supreme Court has recently found denial of the constitutional right to due process and therefore reversible error in a trial court refusing to inform a jury of the defendant’s parole ineligibility. While we have initially interpreted Simmons’ application to our Texas capital punishment procedures, see Smith v. State, 898 S.W.2d 838 (Tex.Cr.App.1995), I cannot agree with the majority’s broad blanket statement that “the matter of parole eligibility is not a proper consideration for the jury’s deliberations on punishment.” Willingham v. State, 897 S.W.2d 351, 359 (Tex.Cr.App.1995). Pursuant to Simmons, and the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution, there are circumstances in which it may be appropriate and/or necessary to inform the jury of parole law in capital punishment situations. I also note that in the case at bar, during punishment deliberations the jury sent out a note asking about what a life sentence means in terms of years and about whether parole could be denied.
Article 37.07, § 4, V.A.C.C.P., enacted after an amendment to the Texas Constitution, mandates that the trial court, i.e. the judicial department, include instructions on parole law in non-capital felonies; thus, jury instructions on parole law are now constitutionally permissible and are not in violation of separation of powers principles. I also note that while Art. 37.07, § 4, V.A.C.C.P. provides for the jury to be informed of various matters as to parole eligibility in non-capital punishment proceedings, it does not prohibit *361such information from being provided to juries in capital proceedings. I also do not believe that the Legislature’s silence in not amending Article 37.071, V.A.C.C.P. to provide for parole law instructions in capital proceedings should necessarily be construed to mean that the Legislature affirmatively meant that such instructions should not be given in capital cases. I am unwilling to conclude that such silence absolutely indicates that the legislative body of Texas reviewed our decisions in caselaw and somehow affirmatively decided that this Court’s opinions on the issue represented its intentions.
Because I agree that information about the effect of parole is not necessarily within the ambit of Penry mitigating evidence, I agree with the majority’s disposition of point of error number three. I therefore concur only in the results reached.