The Tennessee Supreme Court has rejected jury-related issues raised by Tony Carruthers in an appeal of his three convictions and death sentences for the 1994 murders of a Memphis woman, her son and another man who were buried alive in a cemetery.
Carruthers' petition to appeal was denied Tuesday along with a petition by another death row inmate, David Earl Miller, whose victim was a Knox County mentally handicapped woman. Miller claimed he was entitled to legal relief under a United States Supreme Court decision, Ring v. Arizona . The Ring decision dealt with how defendants are sentenced to death and required that a jury, not a judge, find aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. In Tennessee, jurors decide both guilt and punishment in capital cases.
In his post-conviction appeal, Carruthers said the state Court of Criminal Appeals erred when it reversed a trial court order allowing his attorney to interview two jurors who complained about his conduct during the trial. The appeal also claimed the Court of Appeals erred when it suggested guidelines for obtaining information from jurors and that the anonymous jury was not properly impaneled.
Jurors who convicted and sentenced Carruthers and co-defendant, James Montgomery, for the murders of Marcellos Anderson, his mother Delois Anderson and Frederick Tucker were identified by numbers instead of their names. Judge Joseph B. Dailey used the system to protect jurors' identities because of concerns about their safety.
Carruthers, who represented himself during the guilt and sentencing phases of his trial, objected to the use of anonymous jurors, but the issue was not raised in his direct appeal. In 2000, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed Carruthers' convictions and sentences.