Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Willie Edward Sneed, Appellant

Summary

The Court affirmed the denial of Sneed's remaining guilt-phase PCRA claims without an evidentiary hearing, concluding that the claims were waived, previously litigated, speculative, meritless, or unsupported by the record. It held that Sneed failed to establish ineffective assistance, prosecutorial misconduct, jury prejudice, suppression of favorable evidence, treaty-based relief, or cumulative prejudice. The Court remanded for the previously ordered new penalty hearing and relinquished jurisdiction. Justice Saylor, dissenting, would have required an evidentiary hearing on the guilt-phase ineffectiveness claims and disapproved a particular capital-sentencing argument.