Category: Uncategorized

Michael James Crawshaw, an officer with the Penn Hills Police Department, was shot and killed on December 6, 2009, after responding to a call at a home where gunshots had been heard. Crawshaw was the first officer on the scene.

In the home, Danyal Morton had been killed over a drug debt. When the shooter, Ronald Robinson, left the home, he saw Crawshaw and shot him while Crawshaw waited for backup officers. Robinson fled but was arrested soon after.

Robinson was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Morton and second degree murder for killing Crawshaw, and received two life sentences.

Joseph Raymond Pokorny, Jr., a corporal in the Pennsylvania State Police, was killed after a vehicle pursuit on the Parkway West in Carnegie on December 12, 2005.

Leslie Mollett, who was driving the suspect vehicle, his girlfriend, and several other men, crashed after being pursued by Pokorny. Mollett, who had recently been released on parole and who was carrying drugs, became involved in an altercation with Pokorny when he approached the car. During that altercation, Mollett was able to gain control of Pokorny’s weapon and fatally shoot him. The suspects fled and were arrested soon after.

Mollett was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole in 2007.

James Henry “Rip” Taylor, Jr., a sergeant with the Pittsburgh Police Department, was shot and killed in Lemington on September 22, 1995, during an altercation with local youths involved in gang activity.

Taylor, who was off duty and who lived in the area of the shooting, stopped to talk with the youth who were spraying graffiti. An argument followed and Tyrek Booker, 17, shot Taylor, who was intoxicated, with his own weapon. Booker was arrested after he turned himself in on September 26.

Charged with first-degree murder, Booker claimed at trial that he acted in self-defense. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to five to ten years in prison.

Frank A. Miller, Jr., an officer with the McKeesport Police Department, was killed during an altercation with a homeless man on November 10, 1993.

Andre Harper was panhandling when Miller attempted to arrest him. Harper, who had a long history of mental illness, grabbed Miller’s weapon and shot and killed him. Harper was arrested soon after.

Harper was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole in 1996. That conviction was reversed and a new trial was ordered in 1999 due to evidence of mental illness.

Harper was convicted again in 2002 and sentenced to life without parole.

Norman Alexander Stewart, a detective with the Pittsburgh Police Department, was working undercover in the Hill District, when he was shot and killed on September 16, 1983.

Stewart and his partner, Beverly Stewart (no relation) were involved in a marijuana buy in the home of Orlando Thompson, 18, when Thompson grabbed Beverly Stewart’s weapon and shot Norman Stewart. Stewart shot and killed Thompson before dying several hours later.

Patrick J. Wallace, Jr., an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation in Brushton on July 3, 1974. During the stop, Wallace found that one of the passengers, Lafayette Jones, was wanted on an outstanding drug charge. Unknown to Wallace, another of the men, Stanton Story, had recently escaped from Western Penitentiary, where he was serving 4-15 years for nine armed robberies.

The men fled the scene. When Wallace pursued them, he was shot by Story. Fleeing the scene, Story was arrested more than two months later.

At trial, Story was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. On appeal, Story argued that allowing the prosecution to permit Officer Wallace’s wife, Marilyn, to testify about their marriage and family was irrelevant and prejudicial. The court agreed, and on January 26, 1978, ordered a new trial.

On retrial, Story was again convicted on October 26, 1979 and sentenced to death the next day.

On appeal, on December 28, 1981, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the conviction but reversed the death sentence and resentenced Story to life. The basis for the Court’s conclusion was that the death penalty statute in place when Story committed his crime was subsequently found unconstitutional and that Story could not properly be sentenced to death under a statute not in place when he committed his crime.

Story remains in prison serving a life sentence.

Albert William Devlin, an officer with the McCandless Township Police Department, was killed while pursuing a stolen vehicle on January 8, 1973. During the pursuit, 19-year old Charles G. Comer, ran Devlin’s vehicle off the road and into a utility pole. Devlin died at the hospital that same night.

Charged with first-degree murder, resisting arrest, assault, and other charges, Comer was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on June 25, 1973, and sentenced to three to nine years in prison.

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.

Joseph Paul Zanella, an officer with the Verona Borough Police Department, was shot and killed by Stanley Hoss during a traffic stop on September 19, 1969.

On September 11, 1969, while serving time for rape at the Allegheny County Workhouse in Blawnox, Hoss and another inmate escaped. Hoss soon began a spree of murderous violence that prompted a huge FBI manhunt. During the spree, Zanella pulled over Hoss for speeding near Oakmont Country Club. Hoss shot Zanella as the officer approached his car.

Hoss then fled to Maryland, where he kidnapped a 21 year old woman, Linda Peugeot, and her infant daughter. He killed both of them and fled west. Hoss was captured in Waterloo, Iowa, when spotted driving Peugeot’s car. He confessed to all three killings.

Hoss was found guilty and sentenced to death in March 1970 for Zanella’s murder. On appeal, on October 12, 1971, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed his death sentence due to inappropriate use of his prior record when considering his penalty. He was sentenced to life.

On December 10, 1973, Hoss and two other inmates killed Captain Walter Peterson, a black prison guard, at Western Penitentiary. During the beating, the attacking inmates shouted racial slurs at Peterson. With the death penalty having been ruled unconstitutional, the murder of a prison guard by a formerly death sentenced prisoner sparked considerable controversy about deterrence.

Stanley Hoss committed suicide in prison on December 6, 1978.

Joseph Francis Gaetano, an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, was shot and killed on June 10, 1966. Gaetano was escorting Edward E. Bittner, who had been arrested earlier that day for auto theft, through the Public Safety Building when Bittner got control of Gaetano’s weapon and shot him. Bittner fled through a courthouse window and was arrested in the Hill District.

After a failed jail escape and lengthy pre-trial proceedings, Bittner was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. As he was being transported to Western Penitentiary, his wife, Mary Anna, gave him a sawed-off shotgun. In the effort to disarm him, Bittner shot and injured a guard.

An additional term was added to Bittner’s prison sentence as a result. Mary Anna Bittner was also convicted.