State of West Virginia v. Clinton Douglas Skeens

This case is before this Court upon the appeal of Clinton Douglas Skeens (“Skeens”) from his conviction in the Circuit Court of Wayne County of murder of the first degree, without a recommendation of mercy. The evidence before the jury established that the victim, Jess Scott Jarrell, (“Jarrell”) died from multiple stab wounds resulting from an unprovoked attack carried out by Skeens at Jarrell’s home. Decades before, Jarrell had been Skeens’s football coach at Wayne High School. Skeens acknowledged at trial that no animosity had existed between him and Jarrell and that Jarrell had always…