Commonwealth v. Murray

OPINION

Justice BAER.

Appellant, Harold Murray, IV, appeals from an order of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, which imposed a judgment of sentence of death following his conviction of, inter alia, three counts of first degree murder. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the convictions in this regard, but vacate the imposition of the sentence of death, and remand for a new penalty hearing.

I. Factual and Procedural Backgrounds

During the early morning hours of January 30, 2005, Shawne Mims, Vernon Brewer, and other individuals were smoking *143crack cocaine. At some point during those…