Preview:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE
January 3, 2013 Session STATE OF TENNESSEE v. NICKOLUS L. JOHNSON
Automatic Appeal from the Court of Criminal Appeals Criminal Court for Sullivan County No. S50059 R. Jerry Beck, Judge

No. E2010-00172-SC-DDT-DD - Filed April 19, 2013

A jury convicted the defendant of premeditated first degree murder for shooting and killing a police officer. As the penalty phase of the trial began, the defendant refused to allow his lawyers to present mental health mitigation evidence. After questioning the defendant about his decision, the trial court directed two mental health experts to evaluate the defendant's mental competency. After the evaluation, the mental health experts testified that they could not render an opinion as to the defendant's competency because the defendant had refused to cooperate. The trial court ruled that the defendant had failed to overcome the presumption of competency and was therefore competent to waive the presentation of expert mental health testimony. The State proved the existence of two aggravating circumstances pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated sections 39-13-204 (i)(2) and (9) (2006). The defendant presented testimony from family and friends. The jury sentenced the defendant to death. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the defendant's conviction and sentence. State v. Johnson, No. E2010-00172-CCA-R3-DD, 2012 WL 690218 (Tenn. Crim. App. Mar. 5, 2012). We hold that a mentally competent defendant may waive the presentation of mitigation evidence during the penalty phase of a capital trial. We further hold that (1) the evidence does not preponderate against the trial court's ruling that the defendant was mentally competent to waive the presentation of mitigation evidence; (2) the trial court did not err in overruling the defendant's motion for a mistrial based on the State's improper reference to abortion during its closing argument; (3) the defendant's challenge to the constitutionality of Tennessee's death penalty is without merit; and (4) based on our review of the death sentence, as required by Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-13-206(c) (2010), the death sentence was not imposed in an arbitrary fashion; the evidence supports the jury's finding of statutory aggravating circumstances; the evidence supports the jury's finding that the aggravating circumstances outweigh any mitigating circumstances; and the sentence of death is not excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases. We affirm the defendant's first degree murder conviction and sentence of death.

Tenn. Code Ann.

Download johnsonnickolus.opn_.pdf

Tennessee Law