State v. Kennedy

WORKMAN, Justice:

Petitioner Franklin Junior Kennedy (hereinafter “Kennedy”) appeals the Circuit Court of McDowell County’s September 23, 2010, *761order denying his motion for a new trial. Kennedy was convicted in 1996 of the first degree murder of Lashonda Viars and sentenced to life in prison with mercy. This is Kennedy’s second appeal of that conviction; his conviction was first upheld on direct appeal to this Court in 1999 in State v. Kennedy, 205 W.Va. 224, 517 S.E.2d 457 (1999), overruled by State v. Mechling, 219 W.Va. 366, 633 S.E.2d 311 (2006) (hereinafter “Kennedy I ”). In his initial…