Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rule on Gary Bradford Cone’s habeas corpus petition for the third time. Yet this time was not the charm for Cone — as it was the first time he lost before the Sixth. As Judge Ryan summarized for the court in Cone v. Bell:
In 1982, a Tennessee state court sentenced Gary Bradford Cone to death after convicting him of two counts of first degree murder, two counts of murder in the perpetration of a burglary, three counts of assault with intent to commit murder, and one count of robbery by use of deadly force. The jury found Cone had bludgeoned two elderly persons to death while hiding out after a robbery. The Tennessee courts upheld Cone