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Thread: Richard Andrew Poplawski - Pennsylvania Death Row

  1. #31
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Pittsburgh Residents, Police React To Poplawski's Death Sentence

    PITTSBURGH -- Many residents of the city of Pittsburgh said they woke up on Wednesday with a sense of relief to news that convicted cop killer Richard Poplawski, 24, had been sentenced to death.

    Channel 11's Jodine Costanzo spoke to many people who stopped by the officers' memorial in Bloomfield to pay their respects.

    Many people said that Poplawski got what he deserved, but the grieving families of officers Paul Sciullo II, 36, Stephen Mayhle, 29, and Eric Kelly, 41, will never have justice.

    Channel 11 was there as school police Chief Bob Fadzen visited the memorial outside of Saint Joseph's Church on Liberty Avenue to remember the fallen officers.

    "I was there when they notified Mayhle's kids," Fadzen said through tears. "The little girl…, I'll never forget her breaking down and crying for her daddy."

    Several businesses in Bloomfield continue to keep the officers' photos and posters on storefront windows. Officer Sciullo grew up in Bloomfield and the residents there continue to honor the three men who they call heroes.

    "I feel he got what he deserves," Vince Palmiere said of Poplawski. "An eye for an eye,"

    "I just hope the families can heal and go on. That's who you think of the most," Margie Edwards said.

    Fadzen said Sciullo, Kelly and Mayhle will forever live in the hearts of Pittsburgh.

    "You never get justice here. He got what he deserved. But what those families went through and what they'll go through the rest of their lives is just unbelievable," said Fadzen.

    Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper also talked about the sentencing and said he too believes that Poplawski deserved the death penalty.

    Harper said the tragedy has been a painful lesson for his officers and they now take extra precautions when they know a weapon is involved.

    The chief said the shootings are still painful to cope with, but the verdict is helping the police family move forward and find closure.

    "The morale has been lifted by saying the justice system worked the way we thought it should work and the outcome is the outcome we hoped it would be," Harper said.

    http://www.wpxi.com/news/28398267/detail.html

  2. #32
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    Poplawski Trial Costs Revealed

    Allegheny County Sheriff's Office Releases Bill For Cop Killer's Trial

    PITTSBURGH -- The man found guilty of killing three Pittsburgh police officers is now on death row.

    With the trial of Richard Poplawski wrapped up, the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office has released its final bill for expenses incurred during the proceedings.

    The bill is more than $62,000, including more than $42,000 in salary costs and more than $18,000 in overtime and fringe benefits, as well as hundreds of dollars in travel expenses.

    The sheriff's office said efforts to streamline expenses were successful and saved taxpayers an estimated $66,000.

    Poplawski was found guilty of killing three officers during a shootout in Stanton Heights in April 2009.

    The jury, brought in from Dauphin County because of pre-trial publicity, sentenced Poplawski to death on Tuesday.

    http://www.wtae.com/news/28417120/de...#ixzz1QrDoBU9A

  3. #33
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    Killer of three officers seeks new trial, sentencing

    An Allegheny County prosecutor's references to Nazism and a white nationalist website in the Richard Poplawski trial were improper and provide grounds for a new trial, attorneys for the convicted cop killer wrote in his appeal.

    The 15-page appeal that Assistant Public Defender Carrie Allman filed lays out a dozen reasons why Poplawski deserves either a new trial or a new penalty phase.

    A Dauphin County jury last month convicted Poplawski, 24, of all 28 charges against him, including three counts of first-degree murder. The jury then sent Poplawski to death row for fatally shooting Pittsburgh police Officers Eric G. Kelly, Stephen J. Mayhle and Paul J. Sciullo II when they responded to a domestic disturbance call at his mother's Stanton Heights home on April 4, 2009.

    According to the appeal filed last week, Deputy District Attorney Mark V. Tranquilli "made references to Mr. Poplawski being a Nazi thereby prejudicing the jury, and the introduction of Mr. Poplawski's visits to a white nationalist website (Stormfront.org) was improper."

    "The introduction of these comments and statements associating Mr. Poplawski with Nazis or white nationalists was improper and served as nothing more than an effort to make the jury believe that Mr. Poplawski was morally reprehensible because of his beliefs," according to the appeal.

    Mike Manko, a spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., declined comment on Monday and said prosecutors would answer in court filings.

    University of Pittsburgh law professor John Burkoff said first appeals usually include any detail from the case that could possibly be an issue for the appellate courts.

    "They want to bring up the kitchen sink. You can expect everything they possibly can think of to be in this motion," Burkoff said. "If they don't bring it up now, they risk waiving the issue later."

    Allman also cited several rulings by Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning as grounds for appeal.

    Among them:

    • The statement Poplawski made to Pittsburgh police Detective James R. Smith at UPMC Presbyterian hospital shortly after the shootings should not have been introduced to the jury because Poplawski was under medication and had invoked his right to a lawyer.

    • The death penalty is unconstitutional and is "cruel and unusual punishment."

    • Racial epithets Poplawski made in 911 calls should not have been played for the jury.

    • Prosecutors abused the use of statements from the slain officers' families by evoking sympathy and emotion from the jury.

    The appeal first goes to Manning, and if he denies the appeal, the case moves to the appellate courts. Allman asked Manning for more time to review the trial transcripts, which could lead to more arguments for appeal.

    Tranquilli filed his own motion in the case yesterday.

    He asked Manning to force Poplawski's attorneys to turn over any evidence they discovered at his mother's Fairfield Street home. Tranquilli specifically requested items from a defense report that lists pieces of evidence found at the home including metal fragments, discharged cartridge casings and pieces of walls.

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...#ixzz1RtIygjx4

  4. #34
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    Life term added to death sentence of Pa. killer

    A life prison term has been added to the death sentence for a man convicted of killing three Pittsburgh police officers.

    A judge on Tuesday sentenced 24-year-old Richard Poplawski (pahp-LAW'-skee) to 85 to 190 years in prison on other charges related to the crime, including attempted homicide and assault.

    Poplawski fatally shot officers Paul Sciullo (SHOO'-loh) II, Stephen Mayhle (MAY'-lee) and Eric Kelly in April 2009 after they responded to a domestic dispute at his mother's home. An hours-long standoff ensued. Poplawski fired on other officers, including those who tried to rescue Kelly.

    A jury imposed the death penalty on Poplawski in June after he was convicted of first-degree murder.

    As Poplawski entered the Allegheny County courtroom on Tuesday, he told reporters: "This is far from over. I'll be back."

    http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18837175

  5. #35
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    Razing of Poplawski house ends painful chapter

    A fresh layer of hay and a hole in the ground were all that remained on Monday afternoon at the scene of a shootout that killed three Pittsburgh police officers.

    After two years of bureaucratic and legal maneuvering, a contract crew demolished the brick home on Fairfield Street in Stanton Heights where Richard Poplawski fatally shot Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul J. Sciullo II on April 4, 2009.

    Neighbors, law enforcement and city leaders said the razing closes out a painful time for the community.

    "It brings tears to my eyes," said Tracy O'Brien, 33, who lives on Downlook Street behind the Poplawski house. "You still relive each minute like it was yesterday."

    O'Brien's brother-in-law, a city SWAT officer, responded to the shootout, which started with a 911 call from Poplawski's mother, Margaret, who owned the house. O'Brien was home that day with her husband, Flynn, and their sons Declan, 7, and Keelan, 4, who took pictures of the demolition.

    "It's a happy day, yet a sad day," she said. "We don't want it here anymore."

    Workers from Hazelwood contractor Jadell Minniefield Construction Services knocked the house down in less than an hour. A crane lifted piles of debris into trucks for removal. Neighbors holding coffee mugs huddled together across the street to watch as dust wafted over the neighborhood. Many said they didn't want to talk about it.

    "I just hope the neighbors will be happy with the work," contractor Odell Minniefield said.

    City officials declared the home uninhabitable because of damage from the shootout. Mortgage-holder JP Morgan Chase foreclosed on it.

    Officials delayed one sheriff's sale as Margaret Poplawski sought to buy it back. A judge denied her request to delay the sheriff's sale again, and JP Morgan Chase bought the house last week for $3,011.04, the amount owed on it in costs and fees.

    The bank sold the property to the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority for about the same amount, and the city fast-tracked the demolition.

    "These folks who live on Fairfield and the surrounding areas, they've had to live with a visual reminder of the horrors of April 4," said City Councilman Patrick Dowd, whose district includes Stanton Heights. "Seeing this house torn down is part of the process that needs to take place in order to move us beyond that event."

    Dowd said neighbors are interested in buying the property through a sideyard program and maintaining it for the neighborhood's children.

    "That would be the most fitting memorial for that particular space -- to see some happiness and life there," Dowd said.

    A jury this summer convicted Richard Poplawski, 25, of killing Kelly, Mayhle and Sciullo when they responded to his mother's call for help. He is on death row.

    Police Chief Nate Harper said in an e-mailed statement that the department appreciates the razing of the home.

    "The removal of this residence certainly helps in the healing process not only for the Bureau of Police and the Stanton Heights community, but for all of those who embraced our loss on that fateful morning," Harper said.

    Stephanie Richards, who lives nearby on Hawthorne Street, paused at the end of a workout to watch the demolition.

    "I think it's wonderful for the neighborhood to not have to look at this house and the memory," Richards, 49, said. "It will be great to have new growth."

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...#ixzz1aQftRsu5

  6. #36
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    Online rap video urges killing Pittsburgh police

    Pittsburgh police are trying to find the people who made and posted a violent rap video on YouTube that praises cop-killer Richard Poplawski and calls for the killing of other city officers.

    Police are saying little about the video, which has since been pulled from the popular web site, while they trace its origin.

    Poplawski is on death row for gunning down three officers who responded to a dispute call involving Poplawski and his mother in April 2009.

    The video includes profane lyrics and others that encourage violence, including lines that say, “Let’s kill these coops `cause they don’t do us no good. Pulling your Gluck out `cause I live in the hood.”

    The video also names some officers who patrol Zone 5, the city’s most violent section which is also where Poplawski shot the officers

    http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/2...#ixzz2COm2N8zm
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  7. #37
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    Poplawski To Appeal Conviction, Death Penalty Sentence

    One of our city’s most notorious cop killers will be back in court Wednesday to try and convince the top judges in the state that he shouldn’t have been convicted, and shouldn’t have gotten the death penalty.

    Richard Poplawski has had plenty of time to think about what happened five years ago in Stanton Heights.

    He was convicted of shooting and killing Pittsburgh Police Officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo during a domestic call.

    Poplawski is currently living in solitary confinement on Pennsylvania’s death row with no daily human contact, except for his jailers.

    Even if this appeal fails, Poplawski may never be put to death thanks to state law.

    Poplawski spends 23 hours a day in a 15×15-foot cell on death row at the State Correction Institution at Graterford, outside Philadelphia.

    One hour a day he has a choice. He can either take a shower or spend time alone in an open air pen.

    He is one of 33 death row inmates at Graterford, including John Lesko, who is another prisoner sentenced to death for killing a police officer.

    Like Lesko and most of the other 198 inmates on death row across the state, Poplawski has begun filing appeals.

    His first appeal will be heard here in Pittsburgh tomorrow by the State Supreme Court. Poplawski wants both a new trial and a new sentencing hearing, saying he was unfairly branded as a racist and that evidence of his posts on a Nazi website should not have been admitted.

    The district attorney is dismissive and issued this statement:

    “The prosecution of this defendant was meticulous and thorough, based on overwhelming evidence. We are confident that his conviction and subsequent sentence will be upheld on appeal.”

    Like other inmates, Poplawski has also begun sending letters to the news media.

    In one sent to KDKA, he never says he’s innocent, but claims there may have been another shooter with him in the house, which is something investigators say has no basis in reality.

    By all accounts, Poplawski will be able to write letters and file appeals for years to come. The death penalty hasn’t been implemented in Pennsylvania since 1999. That’s when Philadelphia’s “House of Horrors” convict, Gary Heidnik, said he no longer wanted to appeal and wanted to be put to death.

    There are no current signed death warrants in the state and there are some inmates who have been on death row since the 1980s.

    So, it’s unlikely that Poplawski or anyone else will be put to death anytime soon.

    The Poplawski house has been torn down and this neighborhood in Stanton Heights hopes it fades into distant memory.

    The families of the victims, police officers and the rest of the City of Pittsburgh hope the same about Richard Poplawski.

    http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/...alty-sentence/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  8. #38
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    State chief justice rebukes DA's office over evidence in 2009 killing of 3 Pittsburgh officers

    PITTSBURGH – Pennsylvania's chief justice says prosecutors offered potentially inflammatory evidence against a man sentenced to die for killing three Pittsburgh police officers and should have been reined in by the judge overseeing the case.

    Attorneys for Richard Poplawski (pahp-LAW'-skee) want him to get a new trial in the deaths of officers Paul Sciullo (SHOO'-loh) II, Stephen Mayhle (MAY'-lee) and Eric Kelly. During oral arguments Wednesday, Chief Justice Ronald Castille said prosecutors should not have been permitted to show jurors the officers' funeral videos.

    Castille said the trial judge should have limited what prosecutors showed the jury. Prosecutors argued the evidence against Poplawski was overwhelming.

    Poplawski was convicted in 2011 of killing the officers when they responded to a domestic dispute call at his mother's home April 2009.

    It's not clear when the court will rule.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/09...-3-pittsburgh/
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  9. #39
    Senior Member Frequent Poster stixfix69's Avatar
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    I was living in Pitt when this went down, his mom is just as much a tool as he is.....

  10. #40
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    Poplawski asks for info on drugs for execution

    By Kate Giammarise
    The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania hasn't put anyone to death since 1999, but should the state proceed with the execution of Richard Poplawski, the Stanton Heights man sentenced to death in 2011 for the murder of three Pittsburgh police officers, he wants to know what drugs will be used.

    Poplawski, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution Graterford, Montgomery County, filed a request under the state's Right to Know Law on Jan. 21, asking the Department of Corrections for "procedures and protocols for conducting executions, including types of drugs [and] chemicals, current inventory, expiration dates, and suppliers [and] providers."

    His request came five days after the botched Jan. 16 execution of Ohio death row inmate Dennis McGuire, who reportedly gasped and convulsed -- and took more than 24 minutes to die -- after being given a new and untested combination of lethal injection chemicals.

    That execution revived debate over the death penalty and the manner in which it is carried out. The issues of what drugs states are using as part of their executions and where they are obtaining them are again in the news following the April execution of Oklahoma killer Clayton Lockett, who took more than 40 minutes to die after being given an untested three-drug cocktail.

    The department denied Poplawski's initial January request a few days after he made it, arguing that information is exempt from the Right to Know Law under security and investigative exemptions.

    Poplawski appealed the denial to the state's Office of Open Records, which ruled partly in favor of Poplawski and partly in favor of the Department of Corrections, saying the department met the legal burden to prove it does not have to disclose certain security procedures -- but that it should disclose other facts.

    "The Department has failed to demonstrate how the disclosure of information regarding the procurement, inventory, storage and use of drugs used in the execution process would threaten public safety," the March ruling said.

    "Information unrelated to security, such as the types of drugs used, the method in which the Department procures these drugs, the expiration dates, and other information regarding the use of drugs in the execution process cannot be said to constitute a threat to the public. Accordingly, the Department is required [to disclose] information regarding drugs used in the execution process."

    The department had noted that the procurement process "to obtain drugs to perform an execution has become increasingly difficult with suppliers reluctant to supply these drugs for fear ... that their businesses and personnel will be the subject of reprisals," according to the Office of Open Records ruling.

    In recent years, states have had a more difficult time obtaining drugs for use in executions as some drug manufacturers have declined to sell them for that use, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Some states have resorted to obtaining the drugs from compounding pharmacies, he said.

    In Pennsylvania, it's somewhat of a theoretical discussion -- the last state execution in Pennsylvania was on July 6, 1999, when Gary Heidnik was put to death by lethal injection.

    In general, Pennsylvania's drug protocol is set by legislation, and the drugs used are public information, though the origin of the drugs is not public, said Susan Bensinger, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.

    "The legislation expresses 'injecting the convict with a continuous intravenous administration of a lethal quantity of an ultrashort-acting barbiturate in combination with chemical paralytic agents approved by the department until death is pronounced by the coroner,' " Ms. Bensinger stated in an email.

    The sedative used is sodium pentobarbital and the paralytic agents are pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

    The state also doesn't discuss who's involved in carrying out executions.

    "The Department of Corrections engages the services of individuals technically competent by virtue of training or experience to carry out the lethal injection procedure," according to a statement on the department's website.

    "The state does not identify injection team members because of the confidentiality of the execution policy, for security reasons and out of respect of the privacy of those involved."

    Mr. Dieter said historically, states have always been allowed to keep the names of personnel involved in executions secret. As the issue of where execution drugs are obtained has become more controversial, state court rulings have been mixed on what information must be disclosed, he said. In some cases, what type of drugs are used and where they are obtained may only be disclosed to defendants and their attorneys, and not necessarily the public, he said.

    In 1990, Gov. Robert P. Casey signed legislation changing the state's method of execution from electrocution to lethal injection.

    There are 191 people on death row in Pennsylvania, nine of them from Allegheny County, according to department statistics. Poplawski was sentenced to death in 2011 for the 2009 slaying of three Pittsburgh police officers who were responding to a call at his home.

    Last year, four Democratic state senators introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty, citing its high costs and the punishment's irrevocable nature; the bill has not had a hearing or a committee vote.

    Since the Legislature reinstated capital punishment in 1978, only three people have been executed in Pennsylvania, and all three waived their rights to further appeals.

    http://www.post-gazette.com/news/sta...#ixzz31TvAYE4a

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