The state of Tennessee has a specific statute governing what is(and is not) a death penalty offense.
No death penalty or sentence of imprisonment for life without possibility of parole shall be
imposed but upon unanimous finding that the state has proven beyond a reasonable doubt the
existence of one (1) or more of the statutory aggravating circumstances, which are limited
to the following:
(1) The murder was committed against a person less than twelve (12) years of age and the defendant was eighteen (18) years of age, or older.
In arriving at the punishment the jury shall consider, as heretofore indicated, any mitigating circumstances which shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) The defendant has no significant history of prior criminal activity;
(2) The defendant was previously convicted of one (1) or more felonies, other than the present charge, whose statutory elements involve the use of violence to the person;
(3) The defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to two (2) or more person, other than the victim murdered, during the act of murder;
(4) The defendant committed the murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration or employed another to commit the murder for remuneration of the promise of remuneration;
(5) The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to produce death;
(6) The murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding, interfering with, or preventing a lawful arrest or prosecution of the defendant or another;
(7) The murder was knowingly committed, solicited, directed, or aided by the defendant, while the defendant had a substantial role in committing or attempting to commit, any first degree murder, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, theft, kidnapping, aircraft piracy, or unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb;
(8) The murder wad committed while the defendant was in lawful custody or in a place of lawful confinement or during the defendant’s escape from lawful custody or from a place of lawful confinement;
(9) The murder was committed against any law enforcement officer, corrections official, corrections employee, emergency medical or rescue worker, emergency medical technician, paramedic or firefighter, who was engaged in the performance of official duties, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known that such victim was a law enforcement officer, corrections official, corrections employee, emergency medical or rescue worker, emergency medical technician, paramedic or firefighter engaged in the defendant’s performance of official duties;
(10) The murder was committed against any present or former judge, district attorney general of state attorney general, assistant district attorney general or assistant state attorney general due to or because of the exercise of the victim’s official duty or status, and the defendant knew that the victim was such an official;
(11) The murder was committed against a national, state, or local popularly elected official, due to or because of the exercise of the official’s lawful duties or status, and the defendant knew that the victim was such an official;
(12) The defendant committed "mass murder", which is defined as the murder of three (3) or more persons whether committed during a single criminal episode of at different times within a forty-eight-month period; or
(13) The defendant knowingly mutilated the body of the victim after death; or
(14) The victim of the murder was seventy (70) years of age or older; or the victim of the murder was particularly vulnerable due to a significant handicap of significant disability, whether mental or physical, and at the time of the murder the defendant knew or reasonably should have known of such handicap or disability.
(2) The murder was committed which the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance;
(3) The victim was a participant in the defendant’s conduct or consented to the act;
(4) The murder was committed under circumstances which the defendant reasonably believed to provide a moral justification for the defendant’s conduct;
(5) The defendant was an accomplice in the murder committed by another person and the defendant’s participation was relatively minor;
(6) The defendant acted under extreme duress or under the substantial domination of another person;
(7) The youth or advanced age of the defendant at the time of the crime;
(8) The capacity of the defendant to appreciate the wrongfulness of the defendant’s conduct or to conform the defendant’s conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired as a result of mental disease or defect or intoxication which was insufficient to establish a defense to the crime but which substantially affected the defendant’s judgment; and
(9) Any mitigating factor which is raised by the evidence produced by either the prosecution or defense at either the guilt or sentencing hearing.