Resentencing ordered in 2001 Philadelphia double murder

Resentencing ordered in 2001 Philadelphia double murder

Lester Fletcher, sentenced to die after his conviction for a 2001 double murder in Philadelphia, has won approval for a resentencing. A judge in the Eastern District of the state Supreme Court approved his request Friday.

Then-Gov. Ed Rendell signed a warrant for Fletcher's execution by lethal injection, which was to have taken place in August 2006. But that June, a Philadelphia judge issued halted the order as Fletcher pursued further appeals.

Fletcher was convicted in the shooting deaths of David Otto and Kenneth Schofield in a dispute over drugs and money at Otto's and Schofield's Philadelphia home. Another man was wounded in the incident. — Sandy Bauers