 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Smith v. State12/22/2000
exclusion of evidence of the rape of his sister was without prejudicial effect. Even if this evidence should have been admitted as relevant, we find that the evidence before the jury gave a full and accurate description of the appellant's childhood in a severely dysfunctional family.
In regard to the appellant's assertion that he was prevented from commenting on the evidence he alleges was excluded, we find no adverse ruling excluding argument on these areas of proposed mitigation. In fact, in opening comments, defense counsel argued:
"Did [the appellant] have a choice? I don't believe he did. I believe when he was eight years old and started sniffing gas pipes and drinking home brew, he was kind of put in that rut. No father around. No one to guide him. The only example he had was bad. Brothers in jail. Sisters in jail. Mother in jail. Father in jail....
"....
"If you even determine that he had a chance, he could have stopped somewhere along the way, even without a mom, dad, brother, sister, family support group, he could have done something somewhere." (R. 1974-76.)
In regard to the appellant's contention that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the alleged circumstances of his life, we reiterate, "`This Court has held that the trial court does not have to instruct the jury from a list of specific non-statutory mitigating circumstances provided by the defendant.'" Hagood v. State, [Ms. CR-95-1915, August 14, 1998] __ So. 2d __, __ (Ala. Crim. App. 1998) (quoting Brown v. State, 686 So. 2d 385, 403 (Ala. Crim. App. 1995), aff'd, 686 So. 2d 409 (Ala. 1996)). Although the trial court read to the jury its charge many of the appellant's offered non-statutory mitigating circumstances, it was not required to charge specifically on any at all. See Hagood v. State. It follows that the trial court committed no error in reading some and not others.
On the above rationale, we reject the appellant's request that this cause be remanded for another sentencing hearing. However, we agree with the appellant that the trial court's comments in the charge conference strongly indicate that the court excluded from its consideration of appropriate punishment relevant evidence that happened to also include something regarding one of the appellant's family members and, thus, failed to consider how the appellant's life had been affected by his experiences with and deficiencies of his family members. Therefore, because we find it necessary to remand this case for other sentencing deficiencies, which we discuss infra, we direct the trial court on remand to review or reconsider the appropriate punishment for the appellant, taking into consideration these factors.
X.
The appellant contends that his death sentence should be reversed because, he argues, the trial court erroneously construed § 13A-5-51(6), the statutory mitigating circumstance that " he capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired." He bases this argument on two grounds. He first asserts that the trial court's finding that this circumstance was not present was based, not on the court's consideration of the evidence, but on its mistaken reasoning that this circumstance is not present unless the evidence proves the existence of a mental disease or defect. He argues that such a burden cannot be met, as a matter of law, in a case where the defendant did not assert the defense of mental disease or defect in the guilt phase. The appellant also asserts that the trial court erroneously narrowed this circumstance by its notion that the presence of an intent to
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 Alabama DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|