noting that a witness’s invocation of his or her Fifth Amendment privilege in the presence of the jury may have “a disproportionate impact on [the jury’s] deliberations”
How later courts described this case
- noting that a witness’s invocation of his or her Fifth Amendment privilege in the presence of the jury may have “a disproportionate impact on [the jury’s] deliberations”
- defendant stabbed to death eighty- one-year-old shop owner in the course of a robbery, inflicting more than twenty non-fatal, painful stab wounds while the victim was alive, conscious, and retreating before cutting the victim’s carotid artery and jugular vein; death sentence upheld based on (i)(5)-(7), and -50- (i)(14)
- defendant stabbed eighty-one-year-old victim during a robbery; aggravating circumstances (i)(5), (i)(6), (i)(7), and (i)(14)
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
*578 ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR., J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the conclusion of the majority that Rollins’ convictions should be affirmed. As to the sentence of death, however, I respectfully dissent. I continue to adhere to my view that the comparative proportionality review protocol currently embraced by the majority is inadequate to shield defendants from the arbitrary and disproportionate imposition of the death penalty. See State v. Reid, 164 S.W.3d 286, 323-325 (Tenn.2005)(Birch, J., concurring and dissenting), and cases cited therein. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion affirming the imposition of the death penalty in this case.