Jury mulling death of double-murderer


January 27, 2012 at 8:39a.m.

Jury mulling death of double-murderer

BROOKVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A jury is set to deliberate whether a man convicted of killing a western Pennsylvania couple while robbing them of a rare coin collection should receive the death penalty or life in prison.

The Jefferson County panel on Thursday heard evidence from 46-year-old Steven Rebert’s family about his normal childhood, though some expressed concern about his use of marijuana and other drugs has he grew older.

Rebert was convicted of murdering James and Victoria Shugar in April 2010 in their Snyder Township home, about 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

After his arrest for the Shugar slayings, New York authorities named Rebert a “person of interest” in two separate, unsolved slayings in New York since 2005, saying Rebert lived near both men and did Internet searches on those killings.