Thomas v. State

OPINION

By the Court,

Hardesty, J.:

In this case, we review appellant Mario Thomas’s death sentence, returned by a jury after a second penalty hearing conducted pursuant to a remand by this court.

FACTS

Appellant Mario Thomas and his brother-in-law, 15-year-old Kenya Hall, were charged with two counts of first-degree murder *1365with the use of a deadly weapon and other crimes. The charges resulted from their early-morning robbery of the Lone Star Steakhouse and the stabbing deaths of two employees who were present during the robbery, Matthew Gianakis and Carl Dixon. Thomas was a former employee of the…