The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied an appeal by death row inmate Timothy Morris, whose victim was bludgeoned to death in 1981 during a business trip through the state. Morris, a drifter, was convicted of the murder in Greene County and sentenced to death.
In an order filed Monday, the court denied Morris’ application to reopen previously denied post-conviction petitions to appeal. In denying the application, the Supreme Court rejected Morris’ claims that his constitutional rights were abridged because women were systematically excluded from serving as grand jury forepersons and that his 19-year confinement on death row constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
His victim, Hunter David Tait, 37, met Morris in Nashville and hired him to help produce stained glass planters, which he sold at craft fairs. Several days after the two men were seen traveling together in Tennessee, Morris arrived at the home of relatives in North Carolina in possession of Tait’s truck, stained glass inventory and personal items, including a checkbook. Tait’s body was discovered in Greene County.
The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed Morris’ conviction and sentence in 1982. His first post-conviction petition, filed in 1983, was denied by the trial court, Court of Criminal Appeals and state Supreme Court. The court also rejected an appeal by Morris earlier this year.
Since 1995, Tennessee inmates hoping to have their sentences overturned or appeals granted on constitutional grounds have been limited to a single post-conviction petition to be filed within one year in most cases.