“That it is better 100 guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer, is a maxim that has been long and generally approved.” - Benjamin Franklin
Present State of the Case
Zeke Goldblum had filed a Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) petition. That petition, which seeks to overturn his murder conviction, was denied without a hearing by Common Pleas Court Judge John O'Brien (who has since been retired). The denial of the PCRA petition without a hearing was then appealed to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
On August 13, 1999, the Superior Court reversed and remanded the case to the Court of Common Pleas for a hearing on the PCRA petition. The prosecution filed a motion for reconsideration by the Superior Court sitting en banc (ie. the entire court). That motion was denied. On November 17, 1999, the prosecution filed a petition for allowance of appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
On April 24, 2000, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied the prosecution's petition for allowance of appeal (No. 764 Western District Allocatur Docket 1999). This cleared the way for a hearing in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Goldblum's murder conviction should be overturned.
By Order dated December 21, 2000 Judge Donna Jo McDaniel denied Goldblum's PCRA. A Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus was filed in federal court on April 2, 2004, docketed at 04-0520 in the Western District of Pennsylvania.