08 August 2018 :
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Judge Gene E.K. Pratter) granted Robert Fisher (71, Black), a decorated Vietnam veteran, a new trial and sentencing hearing. Fisher was sentenced to death on May 3, 1989 in Montgomery County for killing his girlfriend Linda Rowden on July 10, 1980 because she gave information to police that might have implicated him in the murder of a drug witness. If that case continues to a new capital trial, it will be Fisher's third trial and fourth capital sentencing hearing. The federal court granted a new trial after the trial judge misinstructed the jury on the meaning of "reasonable doubt." Fisher served in Vietnam, where he received a Purple Heart from President Lyndon Johnson.
