Pennsylvania v. Walter (majority)
Annotate this CaseAppellant Shonda Walter was convicted for the 2003 first-degree murder of James Sementelli, for which she received the death penalty. Appellant timely filed a PCRA petition, raising a claim that her appellate attorney had rendered ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to develop the arguments in her brief, as well as numerous other claims. Upon the Commonwealth and Appellant’s consent, the PCRA court granted relief, reinstating Appellant’s right to file a direct appeal nunc pro tunc of the judgment of sentence of death, and thus declined to reach her other claims. Appellant timely appealed to the Supreme Court, raising ten issues, and, after an initial round of briefing, the Court entered an order noting that the trial court had not prepared an opinion in support of its decision to grant Appellant a new direct appeal nunc pro tunc or an opinion concerning Appellant’s issues on appeal, and directing it to do so. After the opinion was prepared, and the Supreme Court reviewed it, the Supreme Court found no reversible error in the lower courts' decisions, and affirmed appellant's conviction and death sentence.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.