IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON April 5, 2006 Session

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LEONARD J. YOUNG

Automatic Appeal from the Court of Criminal Appeals Criminal Court for Shelby County Nos. 00-04017, 00-04018, 00-04019 Joseph B. Dailey, Presiding Judge; Jon Kerry Blackwood, Special Judge

No. W2002-03012-SC-DDT-DD - Filed on June 30, 2006

ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR., J., concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I concur in the conclusion of the majority that Young's convictions should be affirmed. As to the sentence of death, however, I respectfully dissent. I continue to adhere to my view that the comparative proportionality review protocol currently embraced by the majority is inadequate to shield defendants from the arbitrary and disproportionate imposition of the death penalty. See State v. Reid, 164 S.W.3d 286, 323-325 (Tenn. 2005)(Birch, J., concurring and dissenting), and cases cited therein. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion affirming the imposition of the death penalty in this case.

_______________________________ ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR.