Barnes v. State

Sears, Justice.

Joseph Martin Barnes was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, and armed robbery. The jury recommended a death sentence for the murder, finding as a statutory aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed during the commission of an armed robbery. On appeal, we find that the trial court improperly restricted the scope of mitigating evidence presented to the jury in the sentencing phase and, therefore, we reverse the death sentence and remand for a new sentencing trial. We affirm Barnes’ convictions.

Barnes, 22 years old at the time of the killing, claimed…