Commonwealth v. Albrecht

OPINION

Justice EAKIN.

Appellant was convicted of first degree murder, two counts of second degree murder, and four counts of arson, relating to the deaths of his mother, wife, and daughter. Appellant was sentenced to death. On direct appeal, we affirmed appellant’s convictions and death sentence. Commonwealth v. Albrecht, 510 Pa. 603, 511 A.2d 764 (1986). Appellant’s first PCRA petition was denied; we affirmed. Commonwealth v. Albrecht, 554 Pa. 31, 720 A.2d 693 (1998).

Appellant filed a habeas corpus petition, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted…