As long as we have the death penalty it will always be enacted in an unfair way because we have an unfair system. Imo it should no longer be used in the U.S.

Good point. But I don’t think that we need to equivocate for the cop killer’s actions in order to recognize that the priorities of the prosecutors are fucked up. Death penalty should have been sought for in both cases.

Premeditation is not required for First Degree Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer.

Excellent. The guy called Navy Federal Credit Union threatening to go on a shooting spree at their branches. That is unequivocally not premeditation of the murder of the police officer. It is an entirely different crime and a clear indication that the man was mentally ill.

Now moving on to the event in question:

>Authorities have said that officers were called to a home over a dispute involving a man who police said was having a “mental health crisis.” Police allege they caught up with him after he walked away, and he “suddenly produced a handgun" and shot them. Officer Sean Sluganski, 32, was killed and another officer was wounded.
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>Authorities said Morris, wounded in the leg by return fire, ran to a parking lot and told two people he had been shot and needed help. Authorities say a witness putting a tourniquet on his leg reported seeing Morris pull a handgun and point it at an approaching officer, and an exchange of gunfire wounded the suspect.
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>Detective Patrick Kinavey testified Friday during a preliminary hearing that Morris told him three days after the shooting that he didn’t remember shooting at Sluganski and only opened fire after racking his gun wasn’t enough to scare the officers off.

The guy was clearly mentally ill, paranoid and dangerous. Sending armed men to his house just reinforced his paranoia and resulted in tragedy. He needed a social worker and therapist, not a cop.

It was publicly reported.

Pittsburgh Gazette

TribLive

First degree murder of a law enforcement officer (18 PAC.S 2507A) is the “intentional killing of a law enforcement officer while in the performance of duty knowing the victim is a law enforcement officer.” There is no premeditation required. Simply the intentional killing when there is no reasonable belief that the killing would otherwise be justified (there’s legally specific criteria for what Pennsylvania law considers justified homicide, found in 18 PA Chapter 5).

Ambushing a public servant doesn’t make the cut?

What exactly does??

I like dbl down and more death penalties and completing them under a 2 year period

Again, first, where is that in any of that in the public reporting?

If he called an "out of state credit unit" (not sure what that is, but anyway...) threatening to go on a killing spree, that is not premeditating killing a police officer who he believed was trying to run him down with his patrol car and then shoot him:

>Kinavey said Morris alleged that police tried twice to hit him with a car, and he racked his gun to try to scare them off, and when that didn't work he fired twice into the vehicle. After being wounded, he said he feared a third officer who was approaching was “out for blood” and fired after the officer reached for his gun, Kinavey said.

https://www.wesa.fm/courts-justice/2023-02-20/trial-ordered-in-mckeesport-shooting-that-killed-1-officer-wounded-2nd

Premeditation isn’t a required element for any of the charges on his docket.

I'm sure you can read about most of it online now. So they tried to do it a few times before(like 100 years before) by slowly removing the land down until this last time where the removed it completely. The final project was a "we have to do this now and fast" kinda thing. The laborers and my family got paid pretty damn well, almost double the usual rate . There was tons of localized damage as well after from them hurrying it up. The steam shovel and laborers just worked with little caution and destroyed a bunch of stuff to get it done. The city didnt care and just paid out to fix it all so the laborers really didn't reign in their destruction as they worked. The steam shovel dumped a whole load on and killed a team of horses. Apparently my great grandparenrs had enough horse to eat for a week. The fill from the hill filled in an old ravine where schenley plaza is. At the time the museum was a library and there were a bridge crossing the ravine about where the schenley fountain is today. They leveled it all off with the rock and dirt from the excavation and the story passed down is that the bridge is still down there underground. They didn't dismantle it and just filled in around and under it. There's more that I can't think of right now besides the fact that some of the buildings on grant street had their basements turn into ground levels(court house) and others you can see where they modified their entrances.

Side note their side hustle also had a hand in moving the whole county morgue building. You can read about that interesting story online as well. I do know the morgue was a more delicate move done with caution.

Most of the stories about it are all over the internet now when over 2 decades ago it was knowledge to share at cocktail parties.

I'm pretty much just against the death penalty in general except in really rare cases. Neither of these fit for me.

That’s the reason Police we’re even there. They were conducting a welfare check after he called an out of state credit union threatening to go on a killing spree.

I love you Reddit, that’s where my mind went…

First, where is that in the article?

Second, ranting about going on a shooting spree would be a clear indication of a mental health disorder, not premeditation of a specific murder.

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He had been threatening to go on a shooting spree for weeks.

That cops > citizens I guess?

Or wait, that isn't the narrative you were going for.

That cops > citizens I guess? Something tells me that isn't the narrative you were looking for.

Zappala is a cunt

No exceptions. Life in prison can be worse than death anyway, and there’s a chance the person can actually repent and become a better person

Where are you getting the premeditated murder stuff from? From the article, it sounds like he thought the police were going to kill him, so he shot them.

>According to the criminal complaint, Morris had told two witnesses that "the police were trying to kill him" and asked that they film him as he walked down Grandview Avenue toward Versailles Avenue.
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>Officers encountered him in front of 1300 Grandview Ave. "The suspect suddenly produced a handgun and shot the two McKeesport officers," Kearns said.

He might have been paranoid and in need of mental health services, but that sounds like a man acting in what he believed to be self-defense, not one premeditating murder. He thought the police were out to kill him.

I am against the death penalty too but it isn't likely in PA anyway. He committed premeditated murder. I dont care if he is a veteran and i dont care if he was having a mental health issue. He is beyond help at this point.

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