Opinion ID: 2811837
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Factual Background and Trial

Text: On March 17, 1986, twenty-three-year-old Stephen West and seventeen-year-old Ronnie Martin drove to the home of fifteen-year-old Sheila Romines, a schoolmate of Martin who had rebuffed Martin’s advances and embarrassed him in front of other students. West, 550 F.3d at 546; State v. West, 767 S.W.2d 387, 389–90 (Tenn. 1989). They waited until Sheila’s father left for work at around 5:20 a.m. before entering the home and brutally murdering Sheila and her mother, Wanda Romines. Ibid. A forensic pathologist testified that Sheila had been raped and had suffered seventeen stab wounds, including fourteen torture-type cuts that were inflicted while she was alive. Id. at 391. Wanda also suffered torture-type wounds. Ibid. Police arrested West and Martin the next day, and Tennessee prosecuted them separately. West’s parents hired Richard McConnell for $10,000 to act as lead defense counsel, and the court appointed Thomas McAlexander as co-counsel. West admitted at trial that he was present at the crime scene but denied inflicting bodily harm upon either victim. He testified that Martin threatened his life with a gun and knives and forced him to rape Sheila. Id. at 390. On March 24, 1987, a jury convicted West of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated No. 13-6358 West v. Carpenter Page 3 kidnapping, one count of aggravated rape, and one count of larceny. The jury sentenced him to death. West appealed his conviction and sentence to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which rejected all of his arguments on February 6, 1989. Id. at 403.