Commonwealth Pennsylvania v. Miguel Rivera

On November 13, 1974, appellant Miguel Rivera was convicted by a jury of first degree murder, rape and criminal conspiracy. The charges arose out of the rape of Margaret Handerahan and the murder of Kevin Wolf during the early morning hours of June 27, 1973. These sordid crimes became known throughout the Philadelphia area as the "Art Museum Murder." Post-verdict motions were filed and denied by the Honorable James T. McDermott, who then sentenced the appellant to a term of life imprisonment for the murder conviction and to a consecutive period of imprisonment of ten to twenty years for the rape conviction. On direct appeal, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the judgment of sentence. Commonwealth v. Rivera, 470 Pa. 131, 367 A.2d 719 (1976).