State of Tennessee, Appellee v. Hubert Lloyd Sheffield, Appellant

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed Hubert Lloyd Sheffield's first-degree murder conviction for the rape and throat-cutting death of Ruby Marlar but reversed his death sentence and remanded for a new sentencing hearing. The court found the evidence sufficient under the governing rational-trier standard, upheld the cause excusal of six prospective jurors, the impeachment use of defendant's prior voluntary manslaughter conviction, and the felony-murder charge, and rejected the contention that execution requires a special jury finding that the defendant killed or intended to kill. The sentence fell because the prosecutor read the prejudicial details of six arrest reports to the defense expert at the sentencing hearing and the trial court excluded clearly admissible testimony about defendant's conduct since incarceration.