Russaw v. State

Willie Louis Russaw was indicted and convicted for capital robbery-murder pursuant to Ala. Code 1975, § 13A-5-40(a)(2). He was sentenced to death by electrocution. The defendant raises 21 issues on this appeal from that conviction and sentence.

I

The trial court committed plain error in its oral instructions to the jury because the jury was not instructed that in order to find the defendant guilty of the capital offense charged in the indictment they had to find that the defendant had a "particularized intent to kill." That error requires a reversal of the defendant's conviction.

The State's…