SC89833 – One evening in December 2006 after paying drug dealers who were in his apartment, Brian Dorsey stayed at the home of his cousin and her husband. His cousin’s four-year-old daughter also stayed at their home. At some point after the victims had gone to bed, Dorsey took a single-shot shotgun from the garage, fatally shot his cousin in the jaw, reloaded the shotgun, fatally shot her husband in the head at close range and then engaged in sexual intercourse with his cousin’s body. He then took her social security card from a wallet and scattered the rest of the wallet’s contents next to her body. He poured bleach over her torso, genitals and thighs; stole various items of personal property from the home; and left the home in her vehicle.

He later met with a woman from whom he had borrowed money to buy drugs and tried to pay her using items later determined to belong to the victims. The next afternoon, his cousin’s parents went to check on her and Ben and found the daughter watching television and the victims dead on their bed in their locked bedroom.

During the ensuing police investigation, testing revealed that sperm cells recovered from the cousin’s body contained DNA consistent with Dorsey. Dorsey subsequently surrendered to police and admitted he was “the right guy” concerning the victims’ deaths. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, to which he pleaded guilty in March 2008.

Following a separate penalty phase trial, the jury assessed sentences of death for each murder, and the trial court sentenced Dorsey accordingly. Dorsey appealed