Commonwealth v. Fisher

OPINION OF THE COURT

ZAPPALA, Justice.

We have before us an automatic direct appeal from the judgment of sentence of death imposed upon Appellant, Robert Fisher, by the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, Criminal Division.1 For the following reasons, we affirm the conviction of murder in the first degree, but vacate the judgment of sentence of death and remand for a new sentencing hearing. The relevant facts of this case are as follows.

In the month preceding her murder, Linda Rowden, the victim in the instant matter, had been in contact with the Norristown police. Rowden had complained…