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High court upholds Tennessee death sentence

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an 8-1 vote Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of a convicted murderer in Tennessee who had complained of poor legal representation.

Death penalty opponents had watched the case of Tennessee convict Gary Cone closely, hoping the justices would sympathize with Cone's complaints about his lawyer's tactics and his mental stability.

Cone's lawyer, John Dice, called no defense witnesses during his trial and waived making a final argument at sentencing. Cone was sentenced to death in 1982.

But writing for the eight-member majority, Chief Justice William Rehnquist rejected the inmate's contentions and reversed a lower court decision.

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"After the junior prosecutor gave a low-key closing, defense counsel waived final argument, which prevented the lead prosecutor -- by all accounts an extremely effective advocate -- from arguing in rebuttal," Rehnquist said in the attorney's defense.

Rehnquist said the lawyer's main problem was his "formidable task" in defending Cone, "whose killings culminated a two-day crime rampage in which [Cone] also committed robbery and shot a police officer and another citizen."

Cone had been convicted 20 years ago of a jewelry store robbery in which he shot a police officer and bystander, then stole a car and broke into a home, where he killed two elderly people.

He had claimed he was innocent by reason of insanity due to substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorders related to his military service in Vietnam.

Only Justice John Paul Stevens agreed with Cone's legal argument. Stevens cited the Appeals Court decision, which said "counsel entirely failed to subject the prosecution's case to meaningful adversarial testing."