State v. Harris

OPINION

DROWOTA, Justice.

We granted this appeal to determine whether the constitutional harmless error analysis delineated in State v. Howell, 868 S.W.2d 238 (Tenn.1993), applies when a jury renders an incomplete verdict as to one of the two aggravating circumstances upon which a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is based.

Although we agree that the incomplete finding is erroneous because the jury did not apply the aggravating circumstance prescribed by the General Assembly, the error does not implicate constitutional Eighth Amendment concerns because no death…