Post by CCADP on Aug 25, 2005 10:00:11 GMT -5
Judges set aside Copeland death penalty
A death penalty imposed by a Blount County Circuit Court jury 5 years ago
has been set aside by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.
Arthur T. "A.C." Copeland was tried and convicted of 1st-degree murder in
the April 1998 murder of 18-year-old Robert Andre Jackson. The jury that
convicted Copeland in the July 2000 trial sentenced him to death.
In a decision issued Aug. 22, a panel of three appeals court judges ruled
the sentence was "disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar
cases."
According to the factual background outlined in the appeals court opinion
written by Judge Curwood Witt Jr., the proof at trial established that
Jackson's murder was triggered by a rape that occurred in Alcoa. An Alcoa
woman reported April 6, 1998, that she was raped at her residence by two
masked men she could not identify.
Her boyfriend, Reginald Stacy Sudderth, appeared at Howe Street Park and
"publicized to the usual group gathered there" that he was offering a
$10,000 bounty on the head of the person who had committed the rape and
said that "someone is going to die tonight."
The proof further established that Copeland learned of the bounty and
expressed interest in getting it. Later that evening he accompanied
Sudderth and others to Maryville in search of Jackson after concluding
that Jackson and one of his friends were responsible for the rape.
After they identified the Maryville residence where Jackson was living
with his girlfriend and her mother, they returned to Alcoa and obtained a
gun, then went back to the residence on Scenic Drive in Maryville.
Around 2 a.m. on April 7, Copeland went into the residence and got Jackson
to come outside with him. Minutes later, the mother heard gunshots and
Jackson ran back into the house in a hail of bullets. Crouching over as he
ran through the house, he collapsed and died in a bathroom.
An autopsy showed he was shot in the groin area, in the collarbone and the
chest. Dr. David Gilliam, who performed the autopsy, testified that, if
the first shot was to the groin, Jackson would have bent over due to the
pain, and that would explain the downward trajectory of the other shots,
both of which exited Jackson's back.
Copeland was taken into custody the next day after he was allegedly
wounded by one of Sudderth's employees who had driven him to the Greenback
area.
In addition to the ruling regarding the death sentence, the appeals court
also ruled that the failure of Blount County Circuit Court Judge D. Kelly
Thomas to assure that Copeland waived his right to testify in his own
defense constituted error.
According to the appeals court opinion, a jury-out hearing should have
been held to preserve in the trial record Copeland's "knowing, voluntary
and intelligent waiver of his right to testify."
Thomas ruled at the conclusion of the prosecution's case presented by then
Assistant Attorneys General Ed Bailey and Kirk Andrews that Copeland's
prior convictions for aggravated robbery, theft over $10,000 and felony
reckless endangerment would be admissible if he took the witness stand in
his own defense.
The state contends that, under this factual background, Copeland and his
attorneys made a tactical decision not to testify if the jury could learn
of his prior convictions if he took the stand. The appeals court ruled
that does not satisfy the need to confirm his decision in the record.
The appeals court has ordered Thomas for an initial determination whether
Copeland desired to exercise his right to testify in his own defense at
trial and, if necessary, to conduct a hearing to determine if the error
was harmless or if it affected the outcome of the case. Should such a
hearing be necessary, the burden of showing the error was harmless will
fall on the state.
District Attorney General Mike Flynn said he has asked the state Attorney
General's office to seek permission to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme
Court in an effort to overturn the Appeals Court ruling.
(source: The Daily Times)
A death penalty imposed by a Blount County Circuit Court jury 5 years ago
has been set aside by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.
Arthur T. "A.C." Copeland was tried and convicted of 1st-degree murder in
the April 1998 murder of 18-year-old Robert Andre Jackson. The jury that
convicted Copeland in the July 2000 trial sentenced him to death.
In a decision issued Aug. 22, a panel of three appeals court judges ruled
the sentence was "disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar
cases."
According to the factual background outlined in the appeals court opinion
written by Judge Curwood Witt Jr., the proof at trial established that
Jackson's murder was triggered by a rape that occurred in Alcoa. An Alcoa
woman reported April 6, 1998, that she was raped at her residence by two
masked men she could not identify.
Her boyfriend, Reginald Stacy Sudderth, appeared at Howe Street Park and
"publicized to the usual group gathered there" that he was offering a
$10,000 bounty on the head of the person who had committed the rape and
said that "someone is going to die tonight."
The proof further established that Copeland learned of the bounty and
expressed interest in getting it. Later that evening he accompanied
Sudderth and others to Maryville in search of Jackson after concluding
that Jackson and one of his friends were responsible for the rape.
After they identified the Maryville residence where Jackson was living
with his girlfriend and her mother, they returned to Alcoa and obtained a
gun, then went back to the residence on Scenic Drive in Maryville.
Around 2 a.m. on April 7, Copeland went into the residence and got Jackson
to come outside with him. Minutes later, the mother heard gunshots and
Jackson ran back into the house in a hail of bullets. Crouching over as he
ran through the house, he collapsed and died in a bathroom.
An autopsy showed he was shot in the groin area, in the collarbone and the
chest. Dr. David Gilliam, who performed the autopsy, testified that, if
the first shot was to the groin, Jackson would have bent over due to the
pain, and that would explain the downward trajectory of the other shots,
both of which exited Jackson's back.
Copeland was taken into custody the next day after he was allegedly
wounded by one of Sudderth's employees who had driven him to the Greenback
area.
In addition to the ruling regarding the death sentence, the appeals court
also ruled that the failure of Blount County Circuit Court Judge D. Kelly
Thomas to assure that Copeland waived his right to testify in his own
defense constituted error.
According to the appeals court opinion, a jury-out hearing should have
been held to preserve in the trial record Copeland's "knowing, voluntary
and intelligent waiver of his right to testify."
Thomas ruled at the conclusion of the prosecution's case presented by then
Assistant Attorneys General Ed Bailey and Kirk Andrews that Copeland's
prior convictions for aggravated robbery, theft over $10,000 and felony
reckless endangerment would be admissible if he took the witness stand in
his own defense.
The state contends that, under this factual background, Copeland and his
attorneys made a tactical decision not to testify if the jury could learn
of his prior convictions if he took the stand. The appeals court ruled
that does not satisfy the need to confirm his decision in the record.
The appeals court has ordered Thomas for an initial determination whether
Copeland desired to exercise his right to testify in his own defense at
trial and, if necessary, to conduct a hearing to determine if the error
was harmless or if it affected the outcome of the case. Should such a
hearing be necessary, the burden of showing the error was harmless will
fall on the state.
District Attorney General Mike Flynn said he has asked the state Attorney
General's office to seek permission to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme
Court in an effort to overturn the Appeals Court ruling.
(source: The Daily Times)