“The mental torture element is confined to cases in which the victim is terrorized for a significant period of time before death.”
How later courts described this case
- “The mental torture element is confined to cases in which the victim is terrorized for a significant period of time before death.”
- capital sentencing statute must be read broadly as relating to prison life and society at large
- recognizing trial court's ability to look at entire record when sentencing on a plea
- “[A] guilty plea waives all previous non-jurisdictional defects ....”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
LUMPKIN, Vice Presiding Judge,
concurring in results.
I concur in the results reached by the Court in this case, however, I continue to disagree with the Court’s analysis of OUJI-CR436. See Nuckols v. State, 805 P.2d 672 (Okl.Cr.1991) (Lumpkin, J., Concur in Results). In addition, I continue in the belief that it is inappropriate to utilize an acronym to deal with the serious nature of an aggravating circumstance.
Upon an independent review of the record, I also find that, even if the aggravating circumstance of heinous, atrocious or cruel was not supported by the evidence, a reweighing of the remaining aggravating circumstances would affirm the death penalty in this case.