United States Third Circuit

In a death penalty case in which petitioner was found to have killed his wife, mother, and daughter by setting the family home on fire, grant of habeas relief and vacatur of his death sentence pursuant to Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367 (1988), is vacated in part and remanded where: 1) a nonretroactivity defense was properly raised by the Commonwealth for the first time in a brief on appeal, and thus was not waived; and 2) pursuant to intervening Supreme Court case law, the ban on retroactive application of new rules of constitutional law applies to Mills, and relief should be denied on the Mills claim.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/29/2006
• Decided 04/19/2007
• Published 04/19/2007

Judges

• Before:  SLOVITER, AMBRO and COWEN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Stuart B. Lev (Argued), Defender Association of Philadelphia, Federal Capital Habeas Corpus Unit, Philadelphia, PA, Counsel for Alfred Albrecht, Sr., Michelle A. Henry, David W. Zellis, Stephen B. Harris (Argued), Colin D. Dougherty, Office of the District Attorney, Doylestown, PA, Counsel for Martin Horn, Commissioner, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.