Cite as: 509 U. S. 350 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
erately," we could not "be sure that the jury was able to give effect to the mitigating evidence . . . in answering the first special issue," id., at 323, so we turned to the second special issue, future dangerousness. The evidence in the case suggested that Penry's mental retardation rendered him unable to learn from his mistakes. As a consequence, we decided the mitigating evidence was relevant to the second special issue "only as an aggravating factor because it suggests a 'yes' answer to the question of future dangerousness." Ibid. The Court concluded that the trial court had erred in not instructing the jury that it could "consider and give effect to the mitigating evidence of Penry's mental retardation and abused background by declining to impose the death penalty." Id., at 328. The Court was most explicit in rejecting the dissent's concern that Penry was seeking a new rule, in contravention of Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288 (1989). Indeed, the Court characterized its holding in Penry as a straightforward application of our earlier rulings in Jurek, Lockett, and Eddings, making it clear that these cases can stand together with Penry. See Penry, 492 U. S., at 314-318.
We confirmed this limited view of Penry and its scope in Graham v. Collins. There we confronted a claim by a defendant that the Texas system had not allowed for adequate consideration of mitigating evidence concerning his youth, family background, and positive character traits. In rejecting the contention that Penry dictated a ruling in the defendant's favor, we stated that Penry did not "effec[t] a sea change in this Court's view of the constitutionality of the former Texas death penalty statute," 506 U. S., at 474, and we noted that a contrary view of Penry would be inconsistent with the Penry Court's conclusion that it was not creating a "new rule," 506 U. S., at 474. We also did not accept the view that the Lockett and Eddings line of cases, upon which Penry rested, compelled a holding for the defendant in Graham:
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