State v. Atkinson

Brailsford, Justice:

The defendant, Wilson Cornelius Atkinson, appeals from his conviction of murder and sentence to death by electrocution. The victim was a police officer of the County of Charleston. The homicide occurred when the defendant, without warning, fired several pistol rounds into the back of the officer’s head from the rear seat of a patrol car. Inferentially, his motive was to avoid an investigation which might have resulted in his arrest for car theft.

During the deliberations of the jurors, they returned to the courtroom, and the following inquiry was made by the foreman: “The…