Powers v. State

CARLSON, Justice,

for the Court.

II1. Stephen Elliot Powers has appealed the capital murder conviction and death sentence imposed upon him by the Circuit Court of Forrest County for the June 14, 1998, murder of Elizabeth Lafferty. Attempted rape was the underlying charge which elevated this homicide to capital murder. Powers’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, a new trial was denied, and this direct appeal ensued. Represented on appeal by different counsel than his trial counsel, Powers submits these several errors: (1) the evidence of attempted rape was…