Charles Victor Sanne and Doyle Edward Skillern, Appellants v. the State of Texas, Appellee

Summary

The Court affirmed the capital murder convictions of Sanne and Skillern but reformulated Sanne's death sentence to life imprisonment because he had received a favorable answer to the future dangerousness issue in his first trial, invoking double jeopardy principles. The Court rejected numerous alleged errors concerning jury selection, Witherspoon challenges, evidentiary admissibility, and alleged ineffective assistance of counsel, finding no reversible error or harmless error where appropriate. The dissent by Judge Phillips argues that the admission of expert testimony on future dangerousness was not harmless and that the trial court denied effective assistance of counsel. The dissent would reverse the convictions and remand.