Commonwealth v. D'Amato

OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

This is an appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County dismissing a capital, post-conviction petition. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part, and remand for limited further proceedings.

I. Background

The facts and procedural history underlying the judgment of sentence in this matter are detailed in this Court’s disposition on direct appeal. See Commonwealth v. D’Amato, 514 Pa. 471, 476-80, 526 A.2d 300, 302-04 (1987). Briefly, on the evening of March 19, 1981, the victim, Anthony Patrone, approached Joseph D’Amato (“Appellant”) in a…