Stephens v. Hopper

The appellant, Alpha Otis O’Daniel Stephens, was convicted of murder in the Superior Court of Bleckley County in January of 1975 and sentenced to death. The conviction and sentence were affirmed in Stephens v. State, 237 Ga. 259 (227 SE2d 261) (1976). In April of 1977, he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Tattnall Superior Court attacking his death sentence on various constitutional and statutory grounds. The Tattnall Superior Court denied his petition for habeas relief. We granted his application to appeal.

A brief review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the…