The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the death penalty for a man convicted of the rape and murder of a Salvation Army thrift store clerk in Bradley County over 20 years ago.
The court ruled in the case of John Patrick Henretta who is on Death Row for the Nov. 30, 1988, rape and slaying of Francis Rose Crabtree.
Henretta was convicted in 2002.
Authorities said Henretta and Michael Goodhart were on a national crime spree when they drove into Cleveland and staked out the Salvation Army Thrift Store, which was then on Inman Street. Authorities said they attacked the clerk, Ms. Crabtree.
Goodhart died in prison after giving a statement to authorities.
Here is a summation of the ruling:
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JOHN P. HENRETTA
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Charles G. Currier, Madisonville, Tennessee (on appeal and at trial); Steven B. Ward, Madisonville, Tennessee (on appeal); and Charles Corn, District Public Defender (at trial), for the appellant, John P. Henretta.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Mark E. Davidson, Senior Counsel; Jerry Estes, District Attorney General; and Sandra Donaghy, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: WITT
A Bradley County Criminal Court jury convicted the defendant, John P. Henretta, of premeditated murder, see T.C.A. Section 39-2-202(a)(1) (1982), felony murder, see id., two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, see id. Section 39-2-501(a), two counts of aggravated rape, see id. Section 39-2-603(a), and two counts of aggravated kidnapping, see id. Section 39-2-301. The trial court merged the felony murder and premeditated murder convictions into a single conviction, and the jury imposed a sentence of death after determining that the State had proven four aggravating circumstances and that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. See id. Section 39-2-203. The trial court also merged the non-capital convictions into a single conviction of each offense and imposed concurrent, Range II sentences of 45 years for robbery with a deadly weapon, 50 years for aggravated kidnapping, and 50 years for aggravated rape. The court ordered the effective 50-year sentence to be served consecutively to the sentence of death. In this appeal, the defendant challenges his conviction of first degree murder and the accompanying death sentence as well as his conviction of aggravated kidnapping. He contends (1) that the trial court erred by refusing to dismiss the indictment for a lack of jurisdiction; (2) that the trial court erred by refusing to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to a search of his person; (3) that the trial court erred by refusing to dismiss the death penalty notice on the basis of the delay between his confession and indictment; (4) that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction of aggravated kidnapping; (5) that the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury on the effect of a non-unanimous verdict at the capital sentencing hearing deprived him of due process; and (6) that Tennessee's death penalty scheme violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Discerning no error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. Following our mandatory review, see T.C.A. Section 39-13-206(c)(1) (2006), we also affirm the sentence of death.