Bowen v. State

Hill, Justice.

This is a death case. Defendant Charles Bowen was convicted August 29, 1977, by jury of murder and rape. Upon the jury’s finding of a statutory aggravating circumstance as to the charge of murder (that the murder was outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible and inhumane), the defendant was sentenced to death for murder and life imprisonment for rape. The case is here on appeal and for review of the death sentence.

There was evidence presented from which the jury was authorized to find the following facts: in the early evening of Sunday, May 22, 1977, the twelve-year-old victim…