Zant v. Cook

Gregory, Justice.

In 1950 appellee James Cook was convicted by a jury of the murder of Roland Smith and sentenced to life imprisonment. Cook did not appeal his conviction, and was paroled in 1957. His civil rights were fully restored in 1965.

In 1985 Cook was convicted of murder and two counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to death for the crime of murder. At the sentencing phase of this trial, Cook’s 1950 conviction for the murder of Roland Smith was offered as evidence of a statutory aggravating circumstance, OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (1). In sentencing Cook to death the jury found two…