In the late hours of August 16, 1996, two young men, Daryl Renard Atkins and William Jones, both drunk and high off of marijuana, kidnapped twenty-one-year-old Eric Nesbitt. The two young men crossed paths with Nesbitt outside of a 7-Eleven, then proceeded to force “their way into his small Nissan pickup at gunpoint, took him to his ATM machine and made him withdraw money.” The trio then proceeded to drive to an isolated area, where Atkins shot Nesbitt eight times, before Atkins and Jones drove away, leaving Nesbitt to die. Daryl Atkins would later be convicted of abduction, armed robbery, as well as capital murder, and sentenced to death; because Jones agreed to testify against Atkins, “the prosecution ultimately permitted Jones to plead …show more content…
Has the person formulated plans and carried them through or is his conduct impulsive? Does his conduct show leadership or does it show that he is led around by others? Is his conduct in response to external stimuli rational and appropriate, regardless of whether it is socially acceptable? Does he respond coherently, rationally, and on point to oral or written questions or do his responses wander from subject to subject? Can the person hide facts or lie effectively in his own or others’ interests? Putting aside any heinousness or gruesomeness surrounding the capital offense, did the commission of that offense require forethought, planning, and complex execution of purpose?” The Briseño factors are also commonly referred to as the “Lennie standard,” this sobriquet comes from the factor’s similarities to the characteristics demonstrated by John Steinbeck’s character, Lennie Small, in the novel Of Mice and