Commonwealth v. Spotz

OPINION

CASTILLE, Justice.

This is a direct appeal from a sentence of death imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County. Following a capital jury trial, which commenced on May 9, 1996, appellant was convicted of first-degree murder.1 At the penalty phase, the jury found three aggravating circumstances and two mitigating circumstances, and also found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances; accordingly, it returned a sentence of death.2 Post-verdict motions were denied and the trial court imposed the death *274penalty. For the reasons set forth below,…