Commonwealth v. Dougherty

OPINION

Justice CASTILLE.

This is a direct appeal from sentences of death imposed by the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. On October 5, 2000, following a capital jury trial, appellant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder 1 and one count of arson 2 arising from an August 24, 1985 house fire in which appellant’s two young sons, John (age 3) and Daniel, Jr. (age 4) were killed. At the penalty phase, the jury found three aggravating circumstances and one mitigating circumstance. 3 The jury found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstance, and…