Commonwealth v. Celijewski

ROWLEY, Judge:

Appellant was convicted, by a jury, of murder in the first degree and arson. He was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of commutation or parole on the murder charge and a consecutive term of ten to twenty years imprisonment on the charge of arson. This direct appeal followed. We affirm.

Appellant was tried on September 14-17, 1981, and found guilty of strangling his wife and setting fire to the building in which she lived. Throughout the trial, appellant conducted his own defense, repeatedly refusing to discuss the facts of the case with counsel…