State of Tennessee v. Vincent Sims

Summary

The court affirmed Sims's convictions for especially aggravated burglary and first degree premeditated murder and his death sentence. It held that the evidence established premeditation, supported the prior-violent-felony and heinous-aggravator findings, and did not support a self-defense instruction, while concluding that instructional, evidentiary, and prosecutorial errors were harmless or waived. Justice Birch, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would uphold the conviction but reject the death sentence because Tennessee's comparative proportionality review protocol is inadequate.