Valorie Crumpton, 72
Tionna Banks, 19
Cesar Mazza
DA seeks death penalty for man charged with killing ex-girlfriend, her grandmother
Cesar Mazza charged in deaths of Tionna Banks and Valorie Crumpton in East Hills
PITTSBURGH — The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office intends to seek the death penalty for a man who's charged with stabbing his baby's 19-year-old mother and fatally beating the young woman's 72-year-old grandmother.
Cesar Mazza, 25, is charged with homicide in connection with the May 7 slayings of Tionna Banks and Valorie Crumpton at Crumpton's home on Karl Street in the East Hills.
"The victim was a prosecution witness to a murder or other felony committed by the defendant and was killed for the purpose of preventing his testimony against the defendant," according to a statement released by the DA's office Thursday.
At the time that the women were killed, Banks had a protection-from-abuse order that required Mazza to stay away from her. Mazza was also awaiting trial on charges that he punched Banks, stomped on her abdomen and dragged her down some steps in November 2014.
The PFA is listed as one of four aggravating circumstances in the DA's notice to seek the death penalty. The killing of a witness is another aggravating circumstance.
A SWAT team was called to Crumpton's house after Pittsburgh police found the victims' bodies. Banks had failed to return to a group home for at-risk women and girls after she was given a weekend pass to visit Crumpton.
http://www.wtae.com/news/da-seeks-de...rders/36121804
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