On Friday, the Third Circuit unanimously affirmed a district court sanctions order against the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office for failing to protect crime victims' rights. The opinion is an important reminder that prosecutors may not ignore crime victims' rights and should confer with them during criminal prosecutions.
I previously blogged about the case here. As recounted in that post, the case arose from brutal murders committed by Robert Wharton and his accomplice. Wharton murdered Bradley and Ferne Hart in their own home and left their seven-month-old baby daughter, Lisa, to die—the horrific climax of a months-long campaign of terror against the family. After Wharton strangled and drowned Ferne in a bathtub, and his accomplice stomped and strangled Bradley in the basement, Wharton sadistically shut off the home's heat in the dead of winter, leaving baby Lisa to freeze and starve. Miraculously, she survived—discovered three days later among the carnage when Bradley's father visited the home and heard her cries.
A jury found Wharton guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in 1985 and returned two death sentences. At first, Wharton adjusted to prison poorly. He tried to escape while leaving the courtroom in an unrelated robbery case. To stop him, an officer had to shoot him twice. The Office prosecuted him for that attempted escape, and he pleaded guilty.
