(DOWNLOAD) "Commonwealth V. Johnson" by In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Eastern District # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Commonwealth V. Johnson
- Author : In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Eastern District
- Release Date : January 18, 2003
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 78 KB
Description
On the evening of June 18, 1996, in connection with a territorial dispute between groups involved in the sale of illicit drugs, Louis Combs ("Combs" or the "victim"), was fatally shot in a breezeway next to 437 Schuylkill Avenue in the City of Reading. Following investigation, Appellant, Raymond Johnson ("Appellant" or "Johnson"), was charged with criminal homicide and related offenses, and a warrant was issued for his arrest, followed by a fugitive warrant. Johnson was finally taken into custody in New York in February of 1998. The Commonwealth provided notice of its intention to seek the death penalty, and a jury trial ensued in September, 2000. In the guilt phase, the Commonwealth proffered, inter alia, eyewitness accounts identifying Johnson as the killer, and Johnson presented alibi witnesses, although he did not himself testify. The jury returned a verdict of guilt, inter alia, on the charge of first-degree murder, and, following a penalty hearing, rendered a death verdict. The jurors found that the aggravating circumstance entailing involvement, association or competition with the victim in the sale, manufacture, distribution or delivery of illegal drugs, see 42 Pa.C.S. §9711(d)(14), outweighed mitigating factors concerning the character and record of the defendant and the circumstances of the offense, 42 Pa.C.S. §9711(e)(8). New counsel was appointed for purposes of direct appeal; after the filing of an initial brief, an additional substitution of counsel occurred, accompanied by the filing of a supplemental brief raising additional claims.