Satterwhite v. Texas

In Satterwhite v. Texas, 486 U.S. 249, 100 L. Ed. 2d 284, 108 S. Ct. 1792 (1988), the Supreme Court emphasized that the decision on harmlessness was not determined solely on the basis of whether there was sufficient evidence, independent of the defendant's inadmissible statement, for a reasonable jury to reach the same conclusion which it had reached with the statement. The Court of Criminal Appeals thought that the admission of [the tainted] testimony on this critical issue was harmless because the "properly admitted evidence was such that the minds of the average jury would have found the State's case (on future dangerousness) sufficient ... even if the testimony had not been admitted." The question, however, is not whether the legally admitted evidence was sufficient to support the death sentence, which we assume it was, but rather, whether the State has proved "beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained." 486 U.S. at 258-59.