Pickens v. State

Darrell Hickman, Justice.

For the third time, a jury has sentenced Edward Charles Pickens to die for a murder committed in 1975, and for the third time we are hearing his appeal. We affirmed his original conviction and sentence in Pickens v. State, 261 Ark. 756, 551 S.W.2d 212 (1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 909 (1978). In 1983, the Eighth Circuit vacated the death sentence due to ineffective assistance of counsel in the penalty phase of the trial. Pickens v. Lockhart, 714 F.2d 1455 (8th Cir. 1983). A resentencing jury was empanelled and Pickens again was sentenced to death. We reversed in…