Gardner v. Johnson

Even though the court cannot reverse a decision merely because it would reach a different outcome, the reviewing federal court must reverse when it concludes that the state court decision applies the correct legal rule to a given set of facts in a manner that is so patently incorrect as to be unreasonable.

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Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Petitioner-Appellant David Allen Gardner appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. � 2254. He was convicted of capital murder in the course of a kidnaping and was sentenced to death. After exhausting his remedies at the state level, Gardner applied for a writ of habeas corpus which the district court denied. We granted a Certificate of Appealability (COA) limited to determining whether the State’s psychiatrists’ pre-examination warnings to Gardner were sufficient to ensure that his consent to be examined was “informed,” thereby negating any potential violation of his Fifth Amendment right against compulsory self-incrimination that might otherwise have resulted from the punishment phase admission —- over timely objection —- of the assertedly prejudicial testimony of the psychiatrist who conducted that exam. As we conclude that this constitutional right was violated by the sentencing-phase admission of the testimony of the psychiatrist who examined Gardner on behalf of the State of Texas and that Gardner suffered prejudice from that violation, we reverse the decision of the district court, grant Gardner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and remand for entry of an appropriate judgment vacating his sentence and allowing the State a reasonable time within which to conduct a new, constitutionally valid sentencing proceeding or, alternatively, to resentence Gardner to life imprisonment in conformity with Texas law.

I. Facts and Proceedings

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