Facts of the Crime:
Sentenced on May 2, 1983 for killing his wife, Carolyn Albrecht, 34, daughter, Anita Albrecht, 9, and mother, Marian Albrecht, 72.
Facts of the Crime:
Sentenced on May 2, 1983 for killing his wife, Carolyn Albrecht, 34, daughter, Anita Albrecht, 9, and mother, Marian Albrecht, 72.
Alfred K. Albrecht Sr., who was on death row in Graterford Prison, died Feb. 23 in Mercy Suburban Hospital in East Norriton. He was 67.
At the time of his death, Albrecht's sentence was being reviewed by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bucks County prosecutor David W. Zellis said Albrecht had been granted a new sentencing hearing by the U.S. District Court in 2007.
"We appealed that ruling and that appeal is still before the 3rd Circuit," Zellis said Wednesday.
In 2004, the U.S. District Court also had granted Albrecht a new sentencing hearing. That decision was reversed by the appeals court.
Stuart Lev, Albrecht's attorney, did not want to comment on Albrecht's death other than to confirm that the death sentence was still before the appeals court.
He said Albrecht had been in Graterford since his conviction.
Albrecht was arrested eight months after the May 1979 fire gutted his Park Avenue home.
Killed in the blaze were Marian Albrecht, 72; Carolyn Albrecht, 34, and Anita Albrecht, 9.
According to then-Perkasie Fire Co. Chief Robert S. Graham, the victims were found in an upstairs bedroom.
Graham said Albrecht's son, Alfred Jr., escaped by jumping out of a second-floor window. Albrecht, the chief said, escaped through the front of the house. Firefighters reported finding Albrecht on the front lawn in his underwear.
Witnesses at the trial told the court that Albrecht set the home on fire to avoid a divorce.
During the trial, Albrecht admitted to beating his wife - she had filed a protection from abuse order against him shortly before the fire - but he denied setting the blaze. Experts debated whether the fire was arson or, as the defense contended, an accident.
Albrecht was eventually convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife and received two life sentences for the deaths of his mother and daughter.
His obituary appeared in Wednesday's paper. Funeral services are this weekend.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/loca...454b7ca96.html
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