Moreland ex rel. Twelfth Judicial Circuit v. Smith

In its petition for writ of certiorari, the state seeks review of an order from the trial court declaring death not to be a possible penalty in respondent Billy Hill’s prosecution for first degree murder. Because the court below erroneously found that the state had previously waived the option of seeking the death penalty, we quash the order under review.

Hill entered into a negotiated plea to first degree murder in 1978 with the understanding that he would not be sentenced to death.

In 1994 he successfully moved to have the judgment and sentence vacated because the trial court, the prosecutor…