I dont believe that he is innocent, however, the prosecutor should NEVER sit as a judge on a case that they prosecuted. The judge should have recused.
If a judge served as prosecutor and then the judge, wrote Tucker, summarizing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Williams case there is a finding of automatic bias and a due process violation.
He wasn't the prosecutor - Rendell was.
He was a judge during one of the later appeals.
His appeals ran out in 1990 but Pennsylvania had a governor (Casey) who would not sign a death warrant and the first death warrant was signed by Tom Ridge in 1995. More appeals and the second death warrant was signed by Tom Ridge in 1999.
How about the facts in the case?