Smith v. State

Joseph Smith was convicted on September 16, 1998, of capital murder. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and the sentence of death on May 26, 2000. Smith v. State, 795 So.2d 788 (Ala.Crim.App.2000). He petitioned this Court for certiorari review. This Court today denies that review. I respectfully dissent from that denial.

The first issue Smith presents in his certiorari petition concerns the trial court’s instructing the jurors that they could recommend a sentence of life imprisonment without parole only if they were convinced “beyond a reasonable doubt that the mitigating…