Jury considers sentence in Pa. officers’ deaths

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Jurors who convicted a Pittsburgh man of killing three city police officers after a domestic dispute reported by his mother in 2009 are scheduled to return today to hear testimony on whether he should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole.

The jury selected earlier this month in Dauphin County ensured that their sequestered stay in an undisclosed city hotel will continue until later this week by convicting Richard Poplawski, 24, of first-degree murder Saturday in the April 4, 2009, shootings. Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning had ordered the jury to be bused in because of concerns that an impartial panel could not be found in the county where the officers were gunned down.

Because of the first- degree verdict, Poplawski can be sentenced to death if the seven men and five women unanimously find that aggravating circumstances in the killings — including the fact that there were multiple victims, and all were police officers — outweigh mitigating factors, including Poplawski’s mental capabilities and his family background. If even one juror refuses to impose the death penalty, Poplawski will instead spend life in prison without parole.

“This isn’t a person who can be rehabilitated,” said Dan O’Hara, a Pittsburgh officer and president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1. “There is no reason to spare his life.”

Pittsburgh attorney William E. Brennan will try to persuade the jury otherwise. Brennen did not return a call for comment Sunday, but already has filed motions to limit victim-impact testimony from the officers’ families during the trial’s penalty phase as well as the grounds cited by prosecutors in seeking the death penalty.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli said Saturday’s verdict, while satisfying, was only part of the legal journey for the victims’ families and local police.

“Our work continues,” Tranquilli said. “Monday we start anew and hopefully we’ll provide this jury with all the information they need in this case to arrive at a just result.”

The jury is also expected to hear from doctors who have examined Poplawski mental state, and perhaps even his mother.

Jurors convicted Poplawski of gunning down officers Paul Sciullo II, Stephen Mayhle and Eric Kelly after Margaret Poplawski called 911 to say that an argument about Richard’s puppies urinating on the floor had escalated that morning. Prosecutors said Poplawski shot Sciullo at the front door, and Mayhle after the officer first traded gunfire with Poplawski — firing a shot stopped by a bullet-proof vest, and another that wounded Poplawski’s leg — before he retreated and was gunned down by Poplawski’s AK-47. Kelly, who was off-duty after just finishing an overnight shift, was gunned down when he drove up in his personal vehicle to help his colleagues after hearing their radio distress calls.

Tranquilli said investigators “extensively researched” whether Margaret Poplawski had any culpability for not warning police that her son had donned the vest and grabbed the assault rifle, a shotgun and a .357 Magnum before police arrived, but determined charges weren’t warranted. Poplawski’s public defender, Lisa Middleman, tried to convince the jury that the “sick” atmosphere in the home — which she attributed to Margaret Poplawski — contributed to the shootings.

Margaret Poplawski told reporters she’s hoping to testify during the trial’s penalty phase and angrily rejected suggestions she did anything to contribute to the officers’ deaths. She spoke to reporters shortly after Manning kicked her out of the courtroom because he feared an emotional outburst moments after the verdict was delivered Saturday night.

“I did not want this for anybody. I did not want this for the community. I did not want this for the city of Pittsburgh,” she said. “I called them for help.”