Commonwealth v. Davis

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROBERTS, Justice.

William Davis was convicted of murder in the second degree for the 1964 stabbing death of Robert Cross. At the time of the killing, both Cross and Davis were inmates at the Eastern State Correctional Institution at Graterford.

Following return of the jury’s verdict on January 6, 1965, appellant was unable to appear for sentencing because he was suffering from a “chronic brain syndrome with psychotic reaction” and had been transferred to Fairview State Hospital. In 1972 it was decided that appellant had recovered sufficiently to permit sentencing. He was…