Messer v. State

Gregory, Justice.

This is a death case. The defendant was convicted of the murder and kidnapping with bodily injury of his eight-year-old niece. The jury fixed the defendant’s punishment as death for the murder, finding as the aggravating circumstances that the offense of murder was committed while the offender was engaged in the capital felony of kidnapping with bodily injury (Code Ann. § 27-2534.1 (b) (2)), and that the offense of murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture to the victim (Code Ann. § 27-2534.1 (b) (7)). The jury found that the…