Skipper v. South Carolina

In Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1 (1986), the Supreme Court held the trial court's exclusion of the testimony of two jailers and one "regular visitor" to the jail that purported to show the defendant had "made a good adjustment" during his time spent in jail denied the defendant his right to place before the sentencing jury all relevant evidence in mitigation of punishment. 476 U.S. at 1. The Court noted that a sentencer should not be precluded from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of a defendant's character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. Id. at 4. Specifically, the Supreme Court noted: Evidence that the defendant would not pose a danger if spared (but incarcerated) must be considered potentially mitigating . . . . because . . . a defendant's disposition to make a well-behaved and peaceful adjustment to life in prison is itself an aspect of his character that is by its nature relevant to the sentencing determination. Id. at 5-6.