The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied a post-conviction appeal filed by Stephen Michael West, who was sentenced to death for the 1986 murders of a Union County mother and daughter.
In an order filed Friday, the court without comment turned down the application to appeal. The order leaves in place a Sept. 6, 2002, Court of Criminal Appeals decision which rejected issues raised by West. A trial court also denied his effort to reopen post conviction proceedings.
West was convicted of kidnaping and stabbing to death Wanda Romines and her daughter Sheila Romines, who also was raped. Both women were stabbed multiple times and suffered numerous “torture” wounds, according to testimony at West’s trial. West was convicted of two counts of first degree premeditated murder, two counts of aggravated kidnaping and one count of aggravated rape. The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the convictions in 1989. Ronnie Martin, who also participated in the crimes, was tried and convicted separately.
In his petition to appeal, West contended that he should be allowed to raise a constitutional issue that was not recognized at the time of trial. He argued in his petition that a 2000 United States Supreme Court decision, Apprendi v. New Jersey, established a new constitutional right that would invalidate his death sentence. In denying his appeal, the trial and appellate courts rejected West’s argument and said the Apprendi decision did not apply to his case. In part, West argued that under Apprendi, the statutorily defined aggravating factors jurors used to sentence him to death should have been included by prosecutors in the indictment against him.