State v. Goss

BRADY, Justice.

On 22 September 2003, defendant Christopher Edward Goss stabbed his neighbor Deborah Sturgill Veler to death in her home, inflicting over fifty sharp-force wounds to her back, neck, face, hands, and arms using knives from her kitchen. Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, and a jury returned a binding recommendation that defendant be sentenced to death. On 8 February 2005, the trial court entered judgment sentencing defendant accordingly.

BACKGROUND

At trial, Kenneth Courtner testified that at approximately noon on Sunday, 21 September 2003, he took his three-year-old…