Cite as: 506 U. S. 461 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
jury may not be precluded from considering 'any relevant, mitigating evidence.' This statement leaves unanswered the question: relevant to what? While Lockett, supra, at 604, answers this question at least in part—making it clear that a State cannot take out of the realm of relevant sentencing considerations the questions of the defendant's 'character,' 'record,' or the 'circumstances of the offense'—Lockett does not hold that the State has no role in structuring or giving shape to the jury's consideration of these mitigating factors." Id., at 179 (citations omitted).
To be sure, Justice O'Connor's opinion concurring in the judgment in Franklin expressed "doubts" about the validity of the Texas death penalty statute as that statute might be applied in future cases. Id., at 183. The Justice agreed, however, that the special issues adequately accounted for the mitigating evidence presented in that case. Ibid.
This brings us to Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U. S. 302 (1989), upon which petitioner chiefly relies. In that case, the Court overturned a prisoner's death sentence, finding that the Texas special issues provided no genuine opportunity for the jury to give mitigating effect to evidence of his mental retardation and abused childhood. The Court considered these factors to be mitigating because they diminished the defendant's ability "to control his impulses or to evaluate the consequences of his conduct," and therefore reduced his moral culpability. Id., at 322. The Texas special issues permitted the jury to consider this evidence, but not necessarily in a way that would benefit the defendant. Although Penry's evidence of mental impairment and childhood abuse indeed had relevance to the "future dangerousness" inquiry, its relevance was aggravating only. "Penry's mental retardation and history of abuse is thus a two-edged sword: it may diminish his blameworthiness for his crime even as it indicates that there is a probability that he will be dangerous in the future." Id., at 324. Whatever relevance Penry's evidence
473
Page: Index Previous 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007