Pennsylvania v. Reid (majority)
Annotate this CaseAppellant Albert Reid was convicted by jury on two counts of first-degree murder for the killings of his estranged wife, Carla Reid, and her fourteen-year-old daughter, D.M. He received two death sentences, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of sentence. Appellant subsequently filed a petition pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”). The PCRA court denied the petition, and Appellant appealed to the Supreme Court, which affirmed in part the PCRA court’s order but remanded, while retaining jurisdiction, directing the PCRA court to provide a supplemental opinion addressing: why it denied relief on the whether appellant was incompetent to proceed to trial and represent himself; and whether prior counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and effectively this issue before trial and for failing to raise it on appeal. Upon return from the PCRA court to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court found the PCRA court erred in the manner in which it assessed Appellant’s claim that he was incompetent to stand trial, as the court’s reasoning, inter alia, failed to account for new, post-conviction evidence that potentially demonstrated that Appellant was incompetent to stand trial. Accordingly, the Court vacated in part the PCRA court’s order and remanded for further proceedings.
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