Commonwealth v. Moore

OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

This is a capital direct appeal. The background is as follows.

Sometime before midnight on January 17, 1998, Appellant, Andrea Kinney, and Michael Mobley summoned an unlicensed taxicab, or a hack, to take them from North to West Philadelphia, in the vicinity of 60th and Market Streets. Kinney and Mobley separated from Appellant briefly. When they regrouped, Appellant complained that he had been “stolen” or “sucker punched” by a person whom he had previously robbed. Appellant, Kinney, and'Mobley returned to the hack and, at Appellant’s direction, the driver set out in…