Hays v. State

This is an appeal from the denial of a petition for post-conviction relief challenging the appellant's conviction for capital murder.

In December 1983, Ku Klux Klansman Henry F. Hays, the appellant, was convicted of the capital murder of Michael Donald. He was sentenced to death in February 1984. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed that conviction on direct appeal but reversed his sentence of death, holding that the jury's sentencing verdict of life imprisonment without parole was binding on the trial court. Hays v. State, 518 So.2d 749 (Ala.Cr.App. 1985). The Alabama Supreme Court…