New trial ordered in 1980 slaying
Man twice convicted, 3 times sentenced to death for alleged murder of his ex-girlfriend
NORRISTOWN >> Tried and convicted twice, and the only person in Pennsylvania to be sentenced to death three times, Robert Fisher will return to a Montgomery County courtroom yet again to answer to charges for the same alleged crime – the 1980 murder of his ex-girlfriend in Norristown.
A federal judge recently overturned Fisher’s 1991 first-degree murder conviction and 1997 death sentence in connection with the July 10, 1980, fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend, 26-yearold Linda Rowden, of Collegeville, as she drove her car along DeKalb Street in Norristown.
“We’ve already begun attempting to put the case back together. A judge will have to set a trial date,” county First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. said on Thursday, reacting to the latest twist in the 40-year-old case.
Given that decades have passed since Rowden’s death, witnesses and some of the original investigators may have since died or relocated, potentially presenting challenges for prosecutors at a retrial.
“We’re looking into that now, the status of our witnesses,” McCann said. “If witnesses are unavailable because they’re dead or because they’re incapacitated in some fashion, their notes of testimony from the prior proceedings should be admissible.
“Will there be obstacles, yes. But I don’t think there are going to be obstacles that we can’t overcome,” McCann added. “That being said, I think the evidence is strong. We’re going to proceed as if this is a first-degree murder case.”
Defense lawyer Carrie L. Allman, the chief homicide lawyer for the public defender’s office, was appointed by Judge Thomas C. Branca on Thursday to represent Fisher, formerly of Norristown, who is now 73 years old.
If he’s convicted of firstdegree murder a third time, Fisher will face a sentence of life imprisonment. McCann revealed prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty against Fisher at the retrial.
“I think we’re just about legally precluded from doing so by the district court’s opinion,” said McCann, who will handle the retrial with co-prosecutor Lauren Heron.
U.S. District Court Judge Gene E.K. Pratter overturned Fisher’s conviction, ruling a county judge’s instruction on “reasonable doubt” and an example of the concept the judge recited during a 1991 trial was “constitutionally deficient” and “fatally flawed” and that Fisher’s lawyer should have objected to the instruction.
Pratter wrote, “given the blatant problems with this instruction, Mr. Fisher’s counsel was ineffective for failing to object and there is a reasonable probability of a different outcome in Mr. Fisher’s guilty phase trial.”
“Therefore, Mr. Fisher’s Constitutional rights were violated by this instruction … Mr. Fisher is entitled to a new trial,” Pratter wrote in the 63-page opinion.
Current prosecutors conceded the reasonable doubt instruction was an incorrect statement of law but argued the instruction was cured by surrounding language, according to court papers. However, Pratter disagreed.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Pratter’s decision on Jan. 17, sending Fisher’s case back to county court for a retrial.
Under law, prosecutors have 180 days to retry the case a third time.
Fisher’s 1997 death sentence also was overturned with Pratter ruling the aggravating factor relied on by prosecutors at the time was improperly applied.
During the 1997 penalty phase of Fisher’s trial, prosecutors presented one aggravating factor, contending Fisher killed Rowden to prevent her from giving information to police that could allegedly link him to the 1980 murder of a federal witness scheduled to testify in a heroin case.
But Pratter determined the sole aggravating factor that prosecutors relied on at that time to seek the death penalty was not enacted under state law at the time of Rowden’s murder and wasn’t implemented until 1989.
Prosecutors had argued the aggravating factor relied on in 1997 was “substantially similar” to the one available in 1980 but the federal judge disagreed, finding the aggravating factor prosecutors used was “so much broader” than the one in effect at the time of the crime.
“This entitles Mr. Fisher to relief,” Pratter wrote, adding the use of the aggravating factor to sentence Fisher resulted in “actual prejudice” and had an “injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict.”
The federal court ruling essentially prevents prosecutors from using the previously relied upon “broader” aggravating factor to seek the death penalty a fourth time against Fisher.
In the opinion, Pratter also suggested defense lawyers failed to investigate or expand upon Fisher’s mental health and military records to present mitigating mental health evidence to the jury.
“The expanded record paints a compelling picture of a man with a troubled history, but it is a story that his lawyer failed to investigate. Because of this failure, there is a reasonable probability of a different result in Mr. Fisher’s sentencing proceeding if the information had been presented,” Pratter wrote, suggesting the jury might have sentenced Fisher to life without parole instead of death.
According to court papers, Fisher had a dysfunctional childhood and at age 17, enlisted in the U.S. Army and served three years in Europe. Six months after his honorable discharge, Fisher again volunteered for the military as a U.S. Marine in combat in Vietnam, according to court papers.
Fisher served as a rifleman in a Marine unit that later became known as “The Walking Dead” and 11 months into his service Fisher was wounded by an enemy bomb, hospitalized for head, neck, chest and arm injuries and was awarded a Purple Heart for his injuries, according to court papers. A neuropsychologist opined Fisher suffered symptoms of postconcussion syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in Vietnam.
Fisher’s conviction and death sentence previously were upheld by the state Supreme Court and Fisher’s appeals on the grounds his lawyers were ineffective also previously were denied by state courts.
Fisher is currently being held at the State Correctional Institution at Greene in Greene County.
Prosecutors alleged Rowden was killed as she drove her car along DeKalb Street in Norristown and Fisher, a back seat passenger in the car, leaned forward and shot Rowden in the neck.
Prosecutors alleged Fisher killed Rowden to prevent her from giving information to police that could link Fisher to the 1980 murder of Nigel Anderson, a witness who had been scheduled to testify in a federal heroin case.
Fisher, who has categorically denied any involvement in Rowden’s murder, wasn’t apprehended until the fall of 1987 in New York City.
Fisher was first convicted of Rowden’s murder in September 1988 and was sentenced to death. To win that conviction, prosecutors relied on Fisher’s previous conviction in federal court of violating Nigel Anderson’s civil rights.
In 1990, the state Supreme Court overturned the county murder conviction after a federal judge overturned Fisher’s federal civil rights conviction.
Fisher was then retried for Rowden’s murder in August 1991, convicted and sentenced to death a second time.
However, in June 1996, the state Supreme Court, while upholding the murder conviction, ruled Fisher should receive a new penalty hearing because jurors at his 1991 trial were improperly allowed to hear victim impact testimony from Rowden’s mother.
After a new penalty hearing in June 1997, Fisher was sentenced to death a third time.
“I think the evidence is strong. We’re going to proceed as if this is a first-degree murder case.”
— Montgomery County First Assistant DA Edward McCann Jr.