Tucker v. Catoe

This matter is before the Court on a Butler 1 petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner, now on death row, 2 contends that errors in his capital sentencing proceeding warrant this Court’s exercise of the writ. We find that the Allen 3 charge given to petitioner’s sentencing jury was unconstitutionally coercive and “in the setting, constitute^] a denial of fundamental fairness shocking to the universal sense of justice.” Butler v. State, 802 S.C. 466, 468, 397 S.E.2d 87, 88 (1990). Accordingly, we grant the writ and remand for a new sentencing proceeding.

A. Facts

We have adopted, with…