Commonwealth v. Weakland

Appellant contends, inter alia, that (1) his trial counsel was ineffective for failure vigorously to pursue a change of venue motion; 1 (2) the trial court erred in deny ing his motion for a mistrial; 2 and (3) the trial court erred in imposing an excessive sentence. We agree with appellant’s final contention and, accordingly, vacate the judgment of sentence and remand for resentencing.

On August 2, 1976, appellant and his brother, James Weakland, robbed a Chester County service station-general store owned by Cecil and Florence Rash. During the course of the robbery, James shot and killed Mr.…