Ex Parte Whisenhant

These cases arise from the defendant's second conviction under § 13-11-2 (a)(3) for the capital offense of rape-intentional killing of a Mobile woman. The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his first conviction because of the prosecution's improper closing argument. Whisenhant v. State,370 So.2d 1080 (Ala.Cr.App., 1979), cert. denied 370 So.2d 1106 (Ala. 1979).

At Whisenhant's second trial, the jury found him guilty, and that same jury, after hearing evidence presented at a sentence hearing, recommended the death penalty. The trial court subsequently imposed that sentence.

The Court of Criminal…