State of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Respondent v. Marcus Patrele McKinley, Defendant Below, Petitioner

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed Marcus McKinley's first degree murder conviction and sentence of life without parole, rejecting seven assignments of error. The Court also announced, in a signed opinion by Chief Justice Davis, that it will no longer issue per curiam opinions, adopting a three-tier system of precedent (signed opinions with original syllabus points, signed opinions without new syllabus points, and memorandum decisions) and expressly overruling inconsistent portions of Walker v. Doe. The Court found one evidentiary error (admission of a social worker's letter in its entirety) but deemed it harmless.