Pennsylvania v. Bardo (majority)
Annotate this CaseIn September 1992, Michael Bardo was arrested for the death and indecent assault of his three-year-old niece. Finding unanimously that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors, the jury determined that Bardo should be sentenced to death. The trial court accordingly imposed the death sentence, and in 1998, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of sentence on direct appeal. Bardo filed a timely PCRA petition. The Court was unanimous in affirming Docket No. 650 CAP, but was evenly divided on the appeal in Docket No. 651 CAP. Therefore, the grant of penalty phase relief was affirmed by operation of law. Part II of this opinion addressed Bardo's appeal of the PCRA court's order denying him guilt-phase relief (and several other penalty-phase claims). After careful review, the Court affirmed the denial of Bardo's guilt-phase claims for relief.
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