State v. Rose

MEYER, Justice.

Defendant was indicted on two counts of murder for the shooting deaths of his cousin, Danny Ray Bateman, and Bateman’s girlfriend, Jill Alexander. The cases were joined and tried as capital cases. The jury convicted defendant of first-degree murder for the shooting of Danny Bateman, for which it recommended a life sentence, and of second-degree murder for the shooting of Jill Alexander, for which the trial court imposed a fifty-year consecutive sentence.

Since we award defendant a new trial for the murder of Danny Bateman and a new sentencing hearing for the murder of Jill…