The opinion
RARER, J.,
dissenting, BELL, C.J., joining.
I respectfully dissent. I would affirm the Court of Special Appeals holding and the ruling of the ALJ that it was unreasonable, under the circumstances presented herein, for the Warden to proceed with a mitigation conference in the absence of Donahue. In my view, Donahue was not unavailable.
I agree with the Court of Special Appeals that, although the Warden had no duty ordinarily to contact Donahue’s lawyer, by “failing to take such an obvious step when the Warden had good reason to know that [Donahue] was not at home and that there was a substantial likelihood that he had not received any *541 notice of the mitigation hearing, strongly indicates that a good-faith effort to make sure appellant had a chance to attend the meeting was not made.” Even if Donahue was ineligible for rehiring ultimately, he should have had the opportunity to attend a hearing and to present any mitigation he deemed relevant.
Chief Judge BELL has authorized me to state that he joins in this dissenting opinion.