Commonwealth v. DeJesus

OPINION

Justice CASTILLE.

This is a direct appeal from the sentence of death imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. Following a capital jury trial, which commenced on June 29, 1998, before the Honorable James A. Lineberger, appellant was found guilty of first-degree murder, 1 two counts of aggravated assault, 2 and possessing an instrument of crime. 3 On July 7, 1998, following a penalty phase hearing, the jury found one aggravating circumstance and one mitigating circumstance, concluded that the aggravator outweighed the mitigator, and accordingly, returned a sentence of…