Cite as: 530 U. S. 156 (2000)
Opinion of Kennedy, J.
now that parole would be impossible, the answer counsel elicited from Ramdass at trial was, "I don't know." We think Ramdass' answer at trial is an accurate assessment of the uncertainties that surrounded his parole and custody status at the time of trial. In like manner, before the Virginia Supreme Court's decision now challenged as unreasonable, petitioner had not argued that his parole eligibility should have been determined based on the date of the Domino's verdict (January 7, 1993) rather than the date the judgment was entered (February 18, 1993). He did not mention the three-strikes law at trial, although the Domino's verdict had already been returned. Petitioner's brief to the Virginia Supreme Court on remand from this Court conceded that the appropriate date to consider for the Domino's crime was the date of judgment. His brief states Ramdass "was convicted . . . on 18 February 1993 of armed robbery" and that "[o]f course, the . . . 18 February convictio[n] occurred after the jury findings in this case." App. 123-124. Thus the Virginia Supreme Court treated the Domino's conviction in the manner urged by petitioner. Petitioner's change of heart on the controlling date appears based on a belated realization that the 1988 robbery conviction did not qualify as a strike, meaning that he needed the Domino's conviction to count. To accomplish the task, petitioner began arguing that the date of the jury verdict controlled. His original position, however, is the one in accord with Virginia law.
State trial judges and appellate courts remain free, of course, to experiment by adopting rules that go beyond the minimum requirements of the Constitution. In this regard, we note that the jury was not informed that Ramdass, at the time of trial, was eligible for parole in 25 years, that the trial judge had the power to override a recommended death sentence, or that Ramdass' prior convictions were subject to being set aside by the trial court or on appeal. Each statement would have been accurate as a matter of law, but each statement might also have made it more probable that the
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