Ex Parte Smith

This is a subsequent post-conviction application for writ of habeas corpus. The applicant claims that he is entitled to relief from his death sentence “because he presented significant mitigating evidence related to his moral culpability and the appropriateness of a death sentence that could not be given full effect by the sentencing jury.” We find that the trial court erred by not providing the jury a constitutionally adequate vehicle by which it could fully consider and give effect to the applicant’s relevant evidence of poverty, a crime-ridden neighborhood, and drug addiction. We also find…