State v. Thompson

OPINION

BROCK, Justice.

The respondent, Dee Washington Thompson, Jr., was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to twenty years and one day in the state penitentiary. The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction and remanded for a new trial because the trial judge failed, sua sponte, to instruct the jury the law respecting the rules for weighing circumstantial evidence in a criminal case. The State seeks a review by certiorari and insists the error, if any, was harmless under T.C.A., Sections 27-116, 27-117.

A detailed review of the evidence is necessary. The deceased, Mrs.…