Opinion ID: 2504293
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Proportionality of Morrow's Death Sentence

Text: This Court held on direct appeal that the death penalty was not disproportionate punishment in Morrow's case. See Morrow, 272 Ga. at 703(17), 532 S.E.2d 78. However, Morrow argues that this Court should re-examine that question, particularly in light of the new evidence that he has presented in the habeas court. As this Court has done in the past, we pretermit whether a re-examination of the proportionality of a death sentence by this Court on habeas corpus might ever be appropriate. Instead, we simply conclude that no cause to consider doing so exists in this case, a case that involves two especially-brutal murders and clear evidence of escalating prior violence toward the main target of Morrow's discontent, Ms. Young. See Schofield v. Meders, 280 Ga. 865, 871(8), 632 S.E.2d 369 (2006) (stating that the Court perceive[d] no reason to re-examine the issue [of proportionality]); Fleming v. Zant, 259 Ga. 687, 688-689(2), 386 S.E.2d 339 (1989) (refusing to reach the issue of whether there may be some circumstances under which a second proportionality review would be appropriate).