The Crime
The states decides whether the crime or murder is classified as capital murder and are eligible for the death penalty. If two people get into an argument, and one ends up killing the other, that is not considered capital murder, this would be classified as "acquaintance murders". In this case it is assumed that there was some history between the murderer and the victim. The death of the victim wasn’t intentionally, in other words, there was a reason for the murderer to kill. Capital murder are defined as murders that were the victim was blameless, for example the victim was killed mainly because he/she was witness to a crime or simply the murderer killing for years.
Trial
The person charged with capital murder is placed in a county jail until the trial is over. Capital murder cases are tried in district courts. A capital murder trial proceeds according to the normal rules of criminal procedure. The main …show more content…
All of the death penalty cases go through this court. There is nine judges in the Court of Criminal Appeals that after reviewing each case they give their published opinion about the criminal case. Their judgement can change by ordering a new trial. In some cases the CCA has a directed verdict, which means that the defendant is not found guilty and he/she gets another trial. When the defendant is found guilty by the CCA the next step for the defendant is to ask for another hearing or a writ of certiorari. This writ allows a lower court to deliver the case to a higher court so they can review it. Most likely the writ or the hearing are denied. After this the direct appeal is