Goad v. State

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

The primary issue in this appeal is whether the petitioner, William Wesley Goad, was afforded his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel at the sentencing phase of his capital trial.

The Tennessee death penalty statute, Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203, requires at the sentencing phase of a capital trial that the jury weigh statutory aggravating circumstances against statutory and other mitigating circumstances. If the mitigating circumstances do not outweigh the aggravating circumstances 1 , the jury must return the death penalty.

In this case, the State…