Commonwealth v. Eldred

JOHNSTONE, Justice.

We address a single issue in this appeal: whether the holding of Bullington v. Missouri, 451 U.S. 430, 101 S.Ct. 1852, 68 L.Ed.2d 270 (1981), precludes the Commonwealth from seeking the death penalty at a defendant’s retrial, where during the penalty phase of the defendant’s first trial the jury found, beyond a reasonable doubt, the existence of a statutory aggravating factor but did not recommend a sentence of death.

In Eldred v. Commonwealth, Ky., 906 S.W.2d 694 (1995), we overturned Frank El-dred’s conviction of first-degree arson and murder for reasons unrelated to this…