Case Name: Willie Albert SMITH v. STATE of Mississippi
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1994-12-21
Citations: 648 So. 2d 63
Docket Number: No. 93-DP-00670
Parties: Willie Albert SMITH v. STATE of Mississippi.
Judges: PRATHER, P.J., and SULLIVAN, PITTMAN and BANKS, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 648
Pages: 63–66

Head Matter:
Willie Albert SMITH v. STATE of Mississippi.
No. 93-DP-00670.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Dec. 21, 1994.
Percy Stanfield, Stanfield Carmody Cox-well & Clark, Jackson, John J. Kenney, Brad N. Friedman, David E. Massengill, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York City, for appellant.
Michael C. Moore, Atty. Gen., Marvin L. White, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Charlene R. Pierce, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Opinion:
ON MOTION AND APPLICATION FOR A LIFE SENTENCE, OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, FOR A NEW SENTENCING HEARING
HAWKINS, Chief Justice,
for the court:
I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
On July 30, 1981, Willie Albert Smith was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death pursuant to jury verdict in the Circuit Court of Hinds County. His conviction and sentence was affirmed and petition for rehearing denied by this Court. Smith v. State, 419 So.2d 563 (Miss.1982). On March 21, 1983, Smith's petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court was denied. Smith v. Mississippi, 460 U.S. 1047, 103 S.Ct. 1449, 75 L.Ed.2d 803 (1983).
On April 27,1983, Smith filed his motion in this Court for leave to file a petition for a writ of error coram nobis. The motion and a petition for rehearing were denied. Smith v. State, 434 So.2d 212 (Miss.1983).
In December, 1983, Smith filed another motion in this Court for leave to file a petition for writ of error coram nobis on the ground that two eyewitnesses for the State perjured themselves at trial. The motion was granted and the cause remanded to the Circuit Court for an evidentiary hearing. In Re Smith, 457 So.2d 911 (Miss.1984). The Hinds County Circuit Court heard, consid ered, and denied the petition. On appeal the judgment of the Circuit Court was affirmed. Smith v. State, 492 So.2d 260 (Miss.1986).
In August, 1985, Smith filed his motion in this Court for leave to seek post-conviction collateral relief. We denied the motion. Smith v. State, 500 So.2d 973 (Miss.1986).
Smith also filed a petition for habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. The petition was denied. Smith v. Thigpen, 689 F.Supp. 644 (S.D.Miss.1988). On appeal, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's decision. Smith v. Black, 904 F.2d 950 (5th Cir.1990).
II. PRESENT PROCEEDINGS
On July 30, 1989, Smith filed in this Court his application for leave to file a motion for post-conviction collateral relief in the Circuit Court of Hinds County and his motion to vacate and set aside his death sentence and remand the cause for a new sentencing hearing or, alternatively, to set aside the death sentence and sentence him to life imprisonment without parole. Smith maintains that during the sentencing phase of his trial the court permitted the jury to consider whether the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel" without affording the jury further guidance concerning the meaning of this aggravating circumstance, contrary to and in violation of the demands of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. He contends that Maynard v. Cartwright, 486 U.S. 356, 108 S.Ct. 1853,100 L.Ed.2d 372 (1988), and Clemons v. Mississippi 494 U.S. 738,110 S.Ct. 1441,108 L.Ed.2d 725 (1990), are intervening decisions within the meaning of Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-27(9) (Supp.1990). The State's response does not deny the factual occurrence.
III. CONCLUSION
Smith's present application and motion are controlled by Wilcher v. State, 635 So.2d 789 (Miss.1993); Wiley v. State, 635 So.2d 802 (Miss.1993); and Woodward v. State, 635 So.2d 805 (Miss.1993). Pursuant to those decisions, Smith's motion for a life sentence is denied. His application for leave to file a motion in the trial court to' vacate his death sentence and his motion to vacate his death sentence are granted and the cause is remanded to the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County for a new sentencing hearing.
SMITH'S MOTION AND APPLICATION FOR A LIFE SENTENCE, OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, FOR A NEW SENTENCING HEARING GRANTED. CAUSE REMANDED TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF HINDS COUNTY FOR A NEW SENTENCING HEARING.
PRATHER, P.J., and SULLIVAN, PITTMAN and BANKS, JJ., concur.
DAN M. LEE, P.J., dissents with separate written opinion joined by SMITH, J.
McRAE, J., dissents with separate written opinion joined by DAN M. LEE, P.J., and JAMES L. ROBERTS, Jr. and SMITH, JJ.
SMITH, J., dissents with separate written opinion joined by JAMES L. ROBERTS, Jr., J.
. The basis for affirmance rested on the adduced evidence which established that there was no reasonable probability that a different result would be rendered if a new trial was had without false in-court identification.