State of Tennessee, Appellee v. William E. Hall and Derrick D. Quintero, Appellants

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed, as modified, the first-degree murder, burglary, and larceny convictions of William Hall and Derrick Quintero and their sentences of death for the murder of Myrtle Vester. The Court reinstated the jury's finding of the (i)(6) 'avoid arrest' aggravating circumstance, holding that the statute does not require the victim to have known or been able to identify her killers, and sustained the (i)(8) escape aggravator because the murders furthered the defendants' ongoing flight from the Kentucky penitentiary, distinguishing this Court's earlier Odom decision. Comparative proportionality review confirmed that the death sentences were neither arbitrary nor disproportionate. Justice Holder concurred in the affirmance but dissented from the (i)(8) analysis, urging that Odom be overruled so that the aggravator applies to any murder committed while the killer remains on escape status; Justice Birch likewise filed a separate concurring/dissenting opinion.