The State, Respondent v. Michael R. Torrence, Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed Torrence's convictions and life sentence but reversed his death sentence because the trial court refused to instruct the jury accurately on his parole ineligibility resulting from his prior violent-crime conviction. The court also clarified that a capital jury must determine the voluntariness of disputed statements first introduced during sentencing and that a defendant may present a familial plea for mercy. Justice Chandler and Justice Toal, concurring in result, would have overruled the precedent permitting parole information in capital sentencing, while Justice Finney, dissenting, would have retained the in favorem vitae doctrine.