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Commonwealth v. Rivera

Death sentence affirmed; trial court did not err in failing to sever defendant's trial from that of his co-defendants or in instructing jury on "carjacking"; admission of non-testifying co-defendant's confession did not violate defendant's 6th Amendment rights; court properly instructed jury on the appropriate weighing process for aggravating and mitigating factors; and defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claims were meritless.

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ARGUED: October 16, 2000

OPINION

In this capital case, Appellant William Rivera appeals from the sentence of death imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. *fn1 A jury found Appellant guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of robbery, criminal conspiracy, robbery of a motor vehicle, and possessing an instrument of a crime. Following a penalty hearing, the jury determined that the one aggravating factor it found, that Appellant killed the victim while committing a felony, *fn2 outweighed the one mitigating factor it found, any other evidence of mitigation concerning the character and record of Appellant and the circumstances of his offense. *fn3 Accordingly, the jury returned a verdict of death, and on March 20, 1998, the trial court formally imposed the death sentence against Appellant. *fn4 After post-sentence motions were filed and denied by the trial court, Appellant filed this direct appeal. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Appellant’s judgment of sentence.

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