State v. Berry

OPINION

HENRY, Justice.

This conviction for murder in the first degree with penalty fixed at death by electrocution is before the Court by direct appeal pursuant to Section 39-2406, T.C.A. We reverse and remand.

I

General Background

This murder was marked by shocking and savage brutality. It was described by the Trial Judge as “one of the most brutal crimes this judge has ever encountered,” and by the jury as being “especially heinous, atrocious, cruel, and it involved torture and depravity of mind.”

On February 9, 1978, at approximately four o’clock in the afternoon, John Harvey Shanks, the aged…