Court Opinion

ID: 9675835
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:07:05.366676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:40.253026
License: Public Domain

BAIRD, Judge,
concurring.
I adhere to my position as stated in Ex parte Baldree, 810 S.W.2d 213 (Tex.Cr.App.1991) (Baird, J., dissenting):
From Penry and Franklin [v. Lynaugh, 487 U.S. 164, 108 S.Ct. 2320, 101 L.Ed.2d 155][ (1988) ], I draw the following conclusion: If a criminal defendant offers relevant mitigating evidence ‘not relevant to’ the special issues (e.g., evidence of positive character traits) and/or “beyond the scope of” the special issues (e.g., disadvantaged background, or emotional or mental problems), and the mitigating evidence has a practical and/or constitutional significance to a criminal defendant’s moral culpability, the Texas capital sentencing scheme would violate of the Eighth and Fourteenth amendments unless the trial court provided the jury with a vehicle to express its reasoned moral response to the mitigating evidence.
Baldree, 810 S.W.2d at 220.
However, unless the United States Supreme Court agrees to consider this Court’s interpretation of Penry and Franklin, I am in the minority. See, Black v. State, 816 S.W.2d 350, 374 (Tex.Cr.App.1991) (Baird, J., dissenting); Boggess v. State, 1991 WL 87597 (Tex.Cr.App. No. 69,990, delivered May 29, 1991) (Baird, J., dissenting); Lackey v. State, 816 S.W.2d 392, 405 (Tex.Cr.App.1991) (opinion on reh’g) (Baird, J., dissenting); and Baldree, supra.1
The doctrine of stare decisis provides the framework for the orderly administration of justice. In my view, regardless of how strongly a judge personally feels about the correctness of his/her position, if that position fails to garner a majority of the court, he/she should adopt the view held by the majority. Therefore, while I maintain my personal belief that this Court is construing Penry much too narrowly, under the doctrine of stare decisis I am constrained to concur in the result reached today by the majority.

. See also, Earhart v. State, 823 S.W.2d 607, 632-33, n. 9, n. 10 (Tex.Cr.App.1991); Mooney v. State, 817 S.W.2d 693, 706, n. 18 (Tex.Cr.App.1991).