Sammantha Allen, John Michael Allen, Petitioners v. the Honorable Teresa A. Sanders, Judge of the Superior Court Of…

Summary

The court held that, when a capital sentencing aggravator depends on a concurrently charged offense, the trial court must independently decide whether that offense legally qualifies as a serious offense but must accept the grand jury's probable-cause determination for the offense. The court rejected an independent probable-cause inquiry into the underlying offense because it would improperly require the trial court to weigh grand-jury evidence, and it affirmed the trial court's ruling while vacating the court of appeals' decision. Justice Bolick, concurring in the result, would have interpreted the procedural rule more narrowly and left any changes to the court's rulemaking process.