Commonwealth v. Tharp

OPINION

Justice BAER.

On November 14, 2000, Appellant Michelle Sue Tharp was convicted of first degree murder and related offenses after she deliberately starved her seven-year-old daughter to death. After her judgment of sentence was affirmed on appeal, Appellant filed a petition pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa. C.S. §§ 9541-46. Following several evi-dentiary hearings, the Washington County Common Pleas Court (“PCRA court”) dismissed Appellant’s petition. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm the PCRA court’s denial of relief on Appellant’s guilt phase claims,…