Death sentence for killer of 3 Pittsburgh police officers (Reuters)

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to death on Tuesday for killing three Pittsburgh police officers who responded to a domestic dispute at his mother's house in 2009.

Richard Poplawski, 24, was found guilty over the weekend of murder and other charges for fatally shooting officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo on April 4, 2009, at the house in the city's Stanton Heights neighborhood.

Poplawski's mother had called 911 to report a domestic dispute. He was arrested after being wounded during a three-hour standoff with police.

His mother said she had argued with her son that morning after discovering his dog had urinated inside the house, according to a criminal complaint filed by police.

She said Poplawski had been discharged from the Marine Corps for assaulting his drill sergeant and had been stockpiling guns and ammunition because he believed police were no longer able to protect society due to the economic collapse, according to court documents.

On Tuesday evening, a jury of seven men and five women reached a verdict of three death sentences, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney's office.

The decision came after family members testified during the penalty phase of the trial, which began on Monday.

The jury had been transported across the state from Dauphin County to avoid the influence of pretrial publicity.

(Reporting by Daniel Lovering, Edited by Peter Bohan)

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Ex-NYC officers want misconduct conviction tossed (AP)

NEW YORK – Two former police officers acquitted of rape asked a judge Tuesday to throw out their misconduct convictions and indicated they'd try to keep their accuser from speaking at their sentencing if the convictions stand.

Kenneth Moreno, 43, and Franklin Mata, 29, who were fired from the police department within hours of the verdict in May, were to be sentenced Tuesday. Their convictions stem from their repeated returns to the accuser's apartment without telling dispatchers and supervisors where they were. They could get up to two years in jail.

But the sentencing was reset for Aug. 8 so a judge can weigh the ex-officers' bid to get their conviction tossed. Their effort also may draw on raw footage from a recent documentary about Manhattan sex crimes prosecutors, defense lawyers said.

The accuser, a 29-year-old fashion product developer who now lives in California, may speak at the planned sentencing, prosecutors said. Defense lawyers objected.

"She's had her day in court," Moreno's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said. "The jury has spoken."

New York law allows victims to speak at sentencings in felony cases but says nothing about whether they can do the same in misdemeanor cases. Tacopina said the New York Police Department — not the woman — would legally be considered the victim of the misconduct.

The woman's lawyers didn't immediately respond to email messages.

Meanwhile, scores of women's-rights advocates rallied down the street from the courthouse, chanting "listen to the facts — these cops deserve the max" and other slogans, and carrying signs that such messages as "NYPD — stop the violence and abuse!"

Moreno and Mata were initially summoned to help a drunken woman get out of a taxi in December 2008; they said she asked them to come back to check on her.

The woman told jurors she passed out and awoke to being raped in her bed. Moreno testified that he cuddled with her in her bed, but they didn't have sex. Mata told jurors he was napping on her sofa. In a secretly recorded conversation with the woman days later, Moreno repeatedly denied they had sex but also said "yes" twice when she asked whether he'd used a condom. Moreno told jurors he was trying to appease her.

Jurors acquitted them of all charges except the misconduct misdemeanors.

Their lawyers filed a request that a judge toss those convictions out for technical reasons. The relevant law requires that offenders derive a benefit from the misconduct or deprive someone else of a benefit, and prosecutors didn't establish that the ex-officers had done that, defense lawyers said, echoing an argument they made during the trial.

They said they may raise more questions after assessing unaired footage prosecutors gave them Monday from "Sex Crimes Unit," a documentary that debuted June 20 on HBO. Shot by independent filmmaker Lisa Jackson, it goes behind the scenes at the Manhattan district attorney's office to film prosecutors preparing for cases. The case against Mata and Moreno was included, but those scenes were cut because the case was still open when the film was being finalized, Jackson has said.

The footage includes prosecutors discussing "investigative steps and trial strategies," mentioning the usefulness of recordings like the one in the ex-officers' case, and talking about hair and DNA test results and the potential usefulness of cell phone records, according to a summary prosecutors gave defense lawyers Monday.

After reviewing it, "we may look to supplement" the ex-officers' challenge to their convictions, said Mata's lawyer, Edward Mandery.

State law requires prosecutors to turn over before trial any statements by a witness who will testify. Also, under evidence rules, documents or other recordings of authorities' preparation of a case can fall within what prosecutors are required to give defense lawyers.

The clips, together about an hour long, include some remarks about it by a DA's office investigator who testified at the former officers' trial, Tacopina said.

Prosecutors said in their letter that they were turning over the material only "out of an abundance of caution." Any witness statements reflected in the documentary footage were disclosed earlier in other formats, and the officers weren't harmed by not having the film clips, assistant district attorneys Coleen Balbert and Randolph Clarke Jr. wrote.

They said they had intended to provide the footage earlier but didn't "due to an oversight."

Prosecutors have two weeks to respond in court to the former officers' arguments for throwing out their conviction. Prosecutors declined to comment Tuesday.

Jackson's voice mail said she was out of the country. She did not immediately respond to an email message Tuesday.

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Jennifer Peltz can be reached at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

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Trial opens for La. officers charged in shootings (AP)

NEW ORLEANS – The first day of jury selection ended Wednesday without anyone seated to hear the case of five current or former New Orleans police officers charged in the deadly shootings of unarmed people on a bridge in Hurricane Katrina's chaotic aftermath.

For more than five hours, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt and attorneys questioned prospective jurors individually behind closed doors. The jury pool is set to return Thursday for more questioning.

Still, Engelhardt told the jury pool they were making good progress.

"I'm very confident that we will complete this process (Thursday)," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, roughly 70 potential jurors were questioned in open court about their Katrina experiences and their knowledge of the case in which two people were fatally shot and four others wounded after the 2005 storm. The shootings happened on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after levee failures during the storm flooded 80 percent of the city.

When Engelhardt asked the assembled pool whether they had heard anything about the case, almost all of them raised their hands, and about a half dozen raised hands when asked if they had formed an opinion on the officers' guilt or innocence.

During questioning about Katrina, one jury pool member said the Coast Guard rescued him from the city. Several others said they had relatives who had to be rescued.

Five former officers already have pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up to make it appear that police were justified in the shootings.

Four other officers — Sgts. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius, officer Anthony Villavaso and former officer Robert Faulcon — were indicted last year on charges stemming from the shootings. Two police investigators — retired Sgts. Arthur Kaufman and Gerard Dugue — were charged in the alleged cover-up.

Dugue will be tried separately. The trial for the other five indicted officers is expected to last up to eight weeks.

Engelhardt read a list of about 170 potential witnesses, including two former police chiefs, Eddie Compass and Warren Riley.

One of the potential witnesses listed by Kaufman's attorney is James Youngman, who was named in a police report as a civilian who witnessed part of the shootings. Prosecutors, however, claim Youngman was an imaginary person Kaufman fabricated as part of the alleged cover-up.

In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors asked Engelhardt to order Kaufman's attorney to provide identifying information that would allow them to interview Youngman, if he exists. In response, Kaufman's lawyer said his client denies fabricating Youngman but says the government has the burden of proving he doesn't exist.

The case is one of several Justice Department probes of alleged misconduct by New Orleans police officers. Last year, a jury convicted three current or former officers in the death of a 31-year-old man who was shot by a police officer in Katrina's aftermath before another officer burned his body.

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Trial underway for accused killer of three police officers (Reuters)

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – Dozens of police officers gathered outside a Pennsylvania courthouse on Monday to show support for the families of three slain officers, as the trial of their accused killer got underway.

Richard Poplawski, 24, of Pittsburgh allegedly shot and killed Pittsburgh police officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo at his mother's house in the city's Stanton Heights neighborhood.

His mother had called 911 to report a domestic dispute on April 4, 2009. The suspect was arrested after being wounded following a three-hour standoff with police, according to court documents.

If convicted of the charges, including multiple counts of criminal homicide, he faces a maximum penalty of death.

Poplawski's mother said she had argued with her son that morning after discovering his dog had urinated inside the house, and that she was calling police to have him removed, court documents said.

She said her son had been discharged from the Marine Corps a few years earlier for assaulting his drill sergeant during training. She said he had been stockpiling guns and ammunition because he believed police were no longer able to protect society due to the economic collapse.

Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney's office, said 18 jurors had been brought to Pittsburgh from Dauphin County for the trial, which was expected to last two weeks.

(Reporting by Daniel Lovering; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

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