United States Eighth Circuit

In a death penalty case resulting from the murder of a security guard outside a St. Louis bank during an attempted robbery, the judgment is affirmed over three primary claims of error regarding: 1) whether a Batson challenge to the prosecution's peremptory strike of a prospective juror, an African American woman, was improperly rejected; 2) findings on two statutory aggravating factors, "pecuniary gain" and "conviction for two felony drug offenses"; 3) a refusal to bifurcate the penalty phase; 4) denial of a motion to suppress; 5) denial of a motion to quash a venire panel; 6) denial of a motion for a separate trial of a felon-in-possession count; 7) various evidentiary rulings; 8) a Brady and Jencks Act claim; 9) findings on non-statutory aggravating factors; 10) mitigation issues; 11) evidentiary claims regarding the penalty phase; 12) jury instructions; 13) findings regarding defendant's mental state for purposes of being eligible for the death penalty; and 14) prosecutorial misconduct.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/04/2008
• Published 11/04/2008

Judges

• LOKEN, Chief Judge., Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, EBEL  and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• David C. Hemingway, AFPD, argued, St. Louis, MO, Kevin C. Curran, St. Louis, MO, and Jennifer Herndon, on the brief, Florissant, MO, for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Steven E. Holtshouser, AUSA, argued, Michael A. Reilly, AUSA, D. John Sauer, AUSA, on the brief, St. Louis, MO, for appellee.