State v. Dickens

WHICHARD, Justice.

Defendant was tried capitally for the first-degree murder of eighty-nine-year-old Roseline Murphy. He was also tried for the first-degree burglary of Murphy. The jury found him guilty of first-degree murder on the basis of malice, premeditation, and deliberation and under the felony murder rule and recommended a sentence of life imprisonment. The trial court accordingly sentenced defendant to life imprisonment on the first-degree murder conviction and to life imprisonment for the first-degree burglary conviction, to run consecutive to the sentence for murder.

The State…