Opinion ID: 621633
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Convictions and Direct Appeals

Text: Lee was convicted on September 17, 1990 after an eight-day jury trial during which Lee's attorney had argued that Lee's daughter was mentally ill and had set the fire as a suicidal act. Post-verdict motions were denied and Lee was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Lee appealed his convictions to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, which remanded to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on Lee's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. During that hearing, the court received substantial evidence about developments in the field of fire science, including testimony from fire expert John J. Lentini. [2] This evidence provided ample reason to question the reliability of the arson investigation. Nevertheless, the trial court held that Lee had failed to establish that trial counsel was ineffective despite, inter alia, trial counsel's failure to discredit the Commonwealth's expert witnesses or to argue that the fire was accidental. Lee filed a direct appeal in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, arguing that trial counsel was ineffective. The Superior Court affirmed Lee's convictions and sentence, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied allowance of an appeal.