State of Tennessee, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Victor James Cazes, Defendant-Appellant

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed Victor James Cazes's convictions for first-degree felony murder, aggravated rape, and first-degree burglary and affirmed his sentence of death, finding the evidence sufficient even though vaginal and anal penetration occurred at or near the time of death, and rejecting challenges to the trial judge's conduct, the denial of continuances and expert services, voir dire, evidentiary admissions, jury instructions, and prosecutorial discretion. The court held that the felony-murder aggravating circumstance (Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-2-203(i)(7)) is invalid for felony-murder convictions under State v. Middlebrooks but that its submission here was harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt, and it announced a new rule that a capital defendant's penalty-phase testimony limited to mitigating factors wholly collateral to the charges does not completely waive the privilege against self-incrimination, entitling him to limited cross-examination — while concluding no prejudicial error occurred because Cazes testified about the night of the murder. The court also found the prosecutor's Caldwell-minimizing remarks harmless beyond a reasonable doubt and conducted comparative proportionality review, deeming the sentence neither excessive nor disproportionate. Chief Justice Reid concurred in the conviction but dissented from the sentence, contending the (i)(5) heinous-atrocious-cruel aggravator was neither proven nor constitutionally valid and that the death penalty was disproportionate.