William J. Otis, an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, was shot and killed when responding to a report of a home burglary on Center Avenue in Oakland on March 3, 1971. That report was made by John O. Hall, an administrator at the University of Pittsburgh.
When Otis responded and entered Hall’s home, Hall mistook him for the burglar and shot him. Charged with involuntary manslaughter, Hall was acquitted at trial on November 26, 1971.
State Killings in the Steel City: The History of the Death Penalty in Pittsburgh 