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Tennessee Criminal Case Reaches U.S. Supreme Court

By Baker Associates

In 1980, Gary Bradford Cone was convicted of brutally beating an elderly couple to death in their Memphis home. At trial, Cone claimed that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by his service in Vietnam, and that this post-traumatic stress left him incapable of having the requisite mental state to commit first-degree murder in Tennessee. He also claimed that he was a habitual drug user. Prosecutors aggressively challenged Cone?s claims, often mocking him while doing so, and a jury convicted him of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to death. So what is the problem? It turns out that at the time of the trial, prosecutors were in possession of evidence that could have substantiated Cone?s claims of mental instability. This evidence was withheld from Cone?s attorney, the judge, and the jury...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).