Supreme Court upholds death sentence for man who killed two

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A divided state Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a death sentence for a Butler County man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's mother while she was holding his child.

Terrance Anderson was sentenced to death in 2001 for killing Debbie Rainwater and sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing the ex-girlfriend's father, Stephen Rainwater.

Missouri's high court ordered a new sentencing hearing in 2006 after concluding that defense attorneys should have sought to strike a juror from the case who had indicated a preference for imposing the death sentence. Anderson was again sentenced to death in 2008, and the state Supreme Court upheld that sentence in a 4-3 decision Tuesday.

At particular issue in Anderson's most recent appeal were the instructions provided to the jury on the process for considering evidence and filling out verdict forms.

The instructions provided to the jury in Anderson's second sentencing hearing were old and omitted a section added in 2004 telling jurors that they must decide on life in prison without parole if they "unanimously decide that the facts or circumstances in mitigation of punishment outweigh the facts and circumstances in aggravation of punishment."

The Supreme Court ruled that using the old instructions was a mistake but did not require a new sentencing hearing because other directions to jurors explained how to weigh mitigating evidence.

Judge Michael Wolff, in a dissent joined by two other justices, said the court should not assume the jury instruction in Anderson's case was "good enough." Wolff said the court should have ordered a new sentencing hearing.

"I suppose that there is a jury instruction from the 19th century allowing the jury to decide whether, if the defendant is convicted, he should be hanged," Wolff wrote. "But in the long-running effort to get death sentencing right -- an effort that might turn out to be futile -- the justice system adapts, one hopes, by constant improvement."

The Supreme Court's opinion in Anderson's case also revealed continued disagreement about the proper standard for deciding whether a death sentence is an appropriate punishment for a crime. That disagreement surfaced earlier this year when the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously upheld a man's death sentence but offered three different opinions on how to evaluate whether a death sentence is appropriate.

A more than 25-year-old state law requires the Supreme Court to consider whether a death sentence is excessive compared to the penalty imposed in similar cases. In Anderson's case, the court examined similar cases in which a death sentence was handed down.

Judge Patricia Breckenridge agreed that Anderson's second death sentence should be upheld but argued that the Supreme Court should also examine cases in which people receive life sentences.

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Case is Missouri vs. Terrance Anderson, SC89895

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