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Court of Criminal Appeals Overturns Murder Conviction

By Baker Associates

Imagine that you are the defendant in a trial where you have been charged with first-degree premeditated murder. At your trial, the state has introduced evidence that it thinks demonstrates that you did the following: declarations previously made by you that you intended to kill the victim, evidence that you procured of a weapon prior to the murder, that you used a deadly weapon on an unarmed victim, that you killed the victim in a particularly cruel manner, that you inflicted multiple wounds on the defendant, that you destroyed or hid of evidence of the killing, and that you were noticeably calm immediately after the killing. Then, when the judge begins to instruct the jury as to what evidence can be considered in deciding whether an individual has committed first-degree murder, he gives the following list of relevant evidence: declarations previously made by a defendant of an intent to kill, evidence of procurement of a weapon by a defendant prior to a killing, use of a deadly weapon upon an unarmed victim, particular cruelty of a killing, infliction of multiple wounds, destruction or secretion of evidence of a killing and a defendant?s calmness immediately after a killing...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on March 13, 2011 (boomark / email).