Court Opinion

ID: 9640056
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:56:16.306683+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:25.817455
License: Public Domain

MALONEY, Judge,
dissenting.
Mental disease, although it may not be severe enough to render one incapable of knowing right from wrong and thus excuse criminal culpability, is nevertheless a fact that might be both aggravating and/or mitigating in nature in the eyes of the jurors, particularly when it is chronic. See Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 225-26 (American Psychiatric Association 3rd ed. 1987). Without a Penry instruction, in most situations it will be considered by the jury as evidence of dangerousness. See Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989). I respectfully dissent.