Robert Farmer v. E.K. McDaniel

Robert Farmer was sentenced to death in Nevada in 1984 after a three-judge post-conviction sentencing panel found the existence of two statutory aggravating circumstances, both of which were based on the murder’s commission in the course of other felonies. The panel found no mitigating circumstances. However, Farmer’s death sentence was vacated in 2007 after the Nevada Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to use as an aggravating circumstance the fact that a murder was committed in the course of committing another felony or felonies. McConnell v. State, 120 Nev. 1043 , 102 P.3d 606 (2004). It then applied that decision retroactively. Bejarano v. State, 122 Nev. 1066 , 146 P.3d 265 (2006). Nevada now seeks to reimpose the death penalty on Parmer, using different statutory aggravating circumstances. Farmer contends that to impose the death penalty a second time, albeit based on aggravating circumstances different than those used in the first trial, would violate his right under the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause not to be “twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” U.S. Const, amend. V. We hold that Farmer’s double jeopardy rights would not be violated by…