Michael Edwin Schneider v. James A. Lynaugh, Director, Texas Department of Corrections

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

In Buchanan v. Kentucky, 1 the Supreme Court held that when a criminal defendant has introduced psychological testimony concerning his mental state, he may not then invoke the privilege against self-incrimination to bar the prosecution from rebutting his evidence with statements he made during an examination by a court-appointed psychiatrist. In this case, the defendant in a state court trial for aggravated robbery offered testimony, at the sentencing phase of the trial, from drug treatment and rehabilitation counselors who opined that the defendant was capable…