State v. Duke

BRADY, Justice.

During the early morning hours of 20 March 1999, defendant Jeffrey Neal Duke brutally and mercilessly murdered Ralph Arthurs and Harold Grant, beating them with a fire extinguisher and stabbing both men while they were down leaving a total of four knives in the victims’ bodies. On 19 September 2003, a jury found defendant guilty of two counts of first-degree murder based on malice, premeditation, and deliberation 1 , and subsequently on 26 September 2003, the jury recommended a sentence of death. We find no error in defendant’s conviction or sentence.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

As seemed…