State of Utah, Plaintiff and Respondent v. Walter J. Wood, Defendant and Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed Wood's first-degree murder conviction but vacated his death sentence and remanded for imposition of a life sentence. It held that Utah's capital-sentencing statute requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances and that death is justified and appropriate, and that the sentencing court improperly relied on an unconstitutionally broad aggravating factor and denied needed psychiatric assistance. Chief Justice Hall, concurring, agreed that the death sentence had to be vacated because the trial judge used the wrong burden of proof.