State v. Hamilton

- Page 524 Edwin Grant Hamilton appeals from his conviction by a jury in Carbon County of the crime of mitigated deliberate homicide. This Court heard oral argument upon the matter on June 5, 1979. On June 18, 1979, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Sandstrom v. Montana (1979), 442 U.S. ___, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39. The Sandstrom case was decided before this Court had decided the present case. Upon our review of the record in the present case we determined that further argument was necessary in light of the Sandstrom case, because neither party addressed this issue in the original hearing. Additional briefs were filed by the parties and oral argument was again presented to this Court on October 29, 1979. This second hearing was limited solely to the Sandstrom issue. The following decision disposes of the issue raised in both the October and June hearings.