Gordy v. State

The defendant (appellant) was convicted in a jury trial of Second Degree Murder under an indictment charging First Degree Murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. This appeal makes no challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, hence we will not burden this record with a recital of the facts.

We are here concerned with: (I) four issues concerning jury instructions, (II) the court’s ruling denying a motion for mistrial for prosecutorial misconduct, (III) the effect of the submission to the jury of a “death penalty” verdict form, the case having been tried before Furman v. Georgia…