State v. Lynch
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, and burglary. The jury returned a death verdict for the murder. The Supreme Court remanded for a new penalty-phase proceeding on the murder conviction. On resentencing, Defendant was again sentenced to death. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s death sentence, holding (1) while the prosecutor engaged in misconduct in certain instances during trial, the improper remarks did not affect the jury’s verdict; (2) the trial court did not commit reversible error when it denied Defendant’s motion to retry the aggravated phase and prohibited him from offering the guilty verdict as an exhibit during the penalty-phase retrial; (3) the trial court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury that Defendant would never be released if sentenced to prison; (4) the trial court did not violate Batson v. Kentucky when it permitted the State to strike five Hispanic jurors over Defendant’s objection; (5) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to strike a juror that had previously worked at the same hospital as one of the State’s witnesses; and (6) the death sentence was appropriate in this case.
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