Page 3 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 50

Thread: Richard Andrew Poplawski - Pennsylvania Death Row

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Slaying trial opens in Pittsburgh officer deaths

    A man being tried on charges he murdered three city police officers who responded to a domestic disturbance call was a "coward" who fired extra shots just to make sure the officers were dead, a prosecutor told the jury in opening statements Monday.

    Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli spoke for about 30 minutes to open what's expected to be a two-week trial before a sequestered jury. The jury, bused to Pittsburgh on Sunday, was selected earlier this month more than 150 miles away in Harrisburg to avoid any prejudice due to pretrial publicity surrounding Richard Poplawski, 24.

    Poplawski's mother woke him early on the morning of April 4, 2009, upset because he had failed to let some puppies out of the house before they urinated. When the argument escalated, Margaret Poplawski called 911 and while she mentioned her son had weapons, told the dispatcher they were legal and not "in play" in the dispute, Tranquilli said.

    Poplawski donned a ballistic vest and readied three weapons — a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with pellet- and rifled-slug shells, a .357 Magnum and an AK-47 assault rifle, Tranquilli said.

    When Officer Paul Sciullo II arrived at what police believed was a routine disturbance call, Poplawski killed him with the shotgun then engaged in a gun battle with a second officer, Stephen Mayhle, who was "outgunned" with only his .40-caliber Glock pistol, Tranquilli said. The third officer killed, Eric Kelly, had arrived home — about two blocks from Poplawski's residence — after an overnight shift, but went to back up the others when he heard radio calls about the shootings, Tranquilli said.

    "He never even got out of his SUV. Richard Poplawski was waiting for him on the high ground," Tranquilli said, noting how Poplawski fired on the officers, and at least nine others who responded to the shooting, from his house near the end of a dead-end street.

    Poplawski faces three umbrella counts of criminal homicide, and could face the death penalty if the jury decides any or all of the shootings rise to first-degree murder.

    He's also charged with nine counts each of attempted murder and assault on law officers for allegedly shooting at other police, as well as lesser charges.

    Public defender Lisa Middleman told the jury some witnesses and physical evidence will contradict the police version of events and even suggested without elaborating that prosecutors haven't accounted for the actions of Poplawski's mother. Margaret Poplawski has not been charged and prosecutors have not suggested she aided her son in any way.

    Middleman told the jury Tranquilli was wrongly injecting emotion into the trial by repeatedly referring to the dead officers as "fallen heroes" and accusing Poplawski of cowardice after Tranquilli said, "Richard Poplawski decided to shoot each one of (the dead officers) where they lay, just to make sure" they were dead.

    Tranquilli also warned the jury to disregard evidence that SWAT officers hit Sciullo with "friendly fire" when they fired back at Poplawski, because that happened "after he (Sciullo) was already dead."

    "This case is not about you deciding if these men were fallen heroes. This case isn't about whether he (Poplawski) is a coward," Middleman said. "This case is about whether the prosecution has enough evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt."

    Tranquilli said Poplawski's statements to police and negotiators will reveal a racist bent.

    Tranquilli said Poplawski used racial slurs when he spoke to police and acted "almost as if he was proud of what he had done. It was his one chance to make the history books," Tranquilli said. Officer Kelly was black.

    Middleman warned the jury, which includes two black men, that the prosecution's burden of proof "is not any less because they want to throw racial epithets at you at the start of the case so you will despise the defendant."

    http://www.seattlepi.com/news/articl...#ixzz1PqQq5Kq5

  2. #22
    Senior Member Frequent Poster stixfix69's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    377
    It has been a while since a deathrow inmate has been executed in this Quaker state, if anyone deserves to get the executions going again in this state, he is the perfect one to start with......

  3. #23
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Poplawski trial: Day 5

    7:45 p.m.

    Prosecutor Mark V. Tranquilli rested the state's case around 7:30 p.m. after Detective James Smith finished his testimony. Middleman will open the defense at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. She told Manning that she expects it to last about half the day and the jury is expected to begin deliberations Saturday evening.

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...#ixzz1QHT8Bxyu

  4. #24
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Attorneys to begin closing arguments of Poplawski trial at 11:45 a.m.

    10:14 a.m.

    Manning has recessed the trial until 11:45 a.m.

    Attorneys will begin closing arguments at that time, after which Manning will give instructions to the jury.

    9:40 a.m.

    Richard Poplawski's capital murder trial opened Saturday morning with a surprise announcement from defense attorney Lisa Middleman: she would rest her case without calling any witnesses.

    Attorneys from both sides are expected to offer their closing arguments and the jury will begin deliberations after receiving instructions from Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning. The prosecution finished presenting its case Friday evening.

    If the jury returns a first-degree murder conviction, the trial will move into a penalty phase where jurors will consider the death penalty for Poplawski, 24.

    Poplawski is charged in the fatal shootings of Pittsburgh police Officers Eric G. Kelly, 41, Stephen J. Mayhle, 29, and Paul J. Sciullo II, 36, on April 4, 2009.

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...#ixzz1QIaOdYLS

  5. #25

  6. #26
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    7:40 p.m.

    The jury has come back with a verdict.

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...#ixzz1QKvRgLUn

  7. #27
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    8:20 p.m.

    The jury has found Richard Poplawski guilty on all 28 counts, including three counts of first-degree murder

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...#ixzz1QKzEKBBA

    Not unexpected, his lawyers said they are just trying to save his life.

  8. #28
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Prosecution rests in penalty phase of Poplawski trial

    Richard Poplawski, 24, shot and killed three Pittsburgh police officers who responded to a domestic dispute at his Stanton Heights home on the morning of April 4, 2009. Officers Eric G. Kelly, 41, Stephen J. Mayhle, 29, and Paul J. Sciullo II, 36, died in the shootout.

    The jury brought in from Dauphin County last week convicted Poplawski of 28 counts related to the shootings, including three counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors have asked the jury to sentence Poplawski to death, and defense attorneys will argue that he deserves only life in prison without possibility of parole.

    Tribune-Review staff writers Bobby Kerlik and Bob Bauder are providing updates from the Allegheny County Courthouse throughout the trial.

    5:48 p.m.

    The prosecution rested its case today in the penalty phase of the trial.

    The defense will begin calling witnesses tomorrow morning. In a surprise move, Poplawski`s lawyer told the judge they would not use any type of psychiatric testimony. Brennan said the defense was concerned that evidence that had been barred during the guilt phase would make it into the penalty phase if they introduced mental illness reports.

    The judge had barred evidence from the guilt phase of the trial detailing Poplawski`s racist rants both in person and online.

    Richard Poplawski appeared to cry this afternoon as Stephen Mayhle`s widow, Shandra, detailed how her daughters – now 8 and 6 – miss their father "because the bad guy killed him."

    4:58 p.m.

    Poplawski has shown no emotion during the heart-wrenching testimony from relatives of the men he killed.

    He stares straight ahead as mothers, fathers, wives and children take the stand and tearfully related their memories of the slain police officers.

    The proceedings prompted tears from many members of the courtroom audience and jury.

    4:45 P.M.

    Marena Kelly said she can still smell her husband's scent on the pillows they shared in their bedroom.

    She still hears his laughter. She still wakes up at 4 a.m. every night, thinking he will be home soon.

    "I not only lost my husband, but I lost part of myself," she said, reading a statement she prepared for the Poplawski trial. "He was my husband, my lover and my best friend."

    She said her husband always treated her daughter, Tameka, as his own, even though he was not her biological father. He was the only father Tameka ever knew, she said. He meant the world to their two other daughters, Autumn and Janelle, and all three miss their dad every day.

    Since the murder, she said, she has lost 60 pounds, and she can't sleep at night.

    Several weeks before he died, Eric Kelly told his wife that if anything ever happened to him on the job, police in a white car would come to the house, and it would mean bad news.

    The Kellys lived in Stanton Heights, two blocks from the Poplawski home, and the family could hear the gunshots the day Eric Kelly was killed. But Marena Kelly said she wasn't worried. She had news on the television, and she thought she saw her husband standing safely near a tree.

    But then came a loud knock at the door.

    "I looked out the window, and there it was, the guys with the white car," she said, breaking down into tears.

    She said she wishes she could have kissed her husband one last time, hugged him one last time and cooked his dinner one last time. She blamed Richard Poplawski for making that impossible.

    "Despite all the things he took away from me, he will never take away the fact that I am Mrs. Marena Kelly, proud wife of Officer Eric Kelly," she said.

    Tameka Kelly, who took the stand before her mother, said her father will never know his two granddaughters, or be able to walk his daughters down the aisle at their weddings. She said he is now her "angel in blue."

    "Though I know my dad is in a better place, it still doesn't patch the holes," she said.

    4 p.m.

    Margaret Poplawski, Richard Poplawski's mother, is sitting on a bench outside the courtroom with other family members. She is wearing a necklace with an "R" on the pendant.

    3:57 P.M.

    Frances Kelly, the mother of slain Officer Eric Kelly, broke down in tears and sobbed on the witness stand when prosecutors displayed a picture of her son when he was 5 years old.

    "I miss the word ‘Mom.' I miss how he would call me all the time, and I miss him walking into the house," Frances Kelly told the jury. "I miss hearing, ‘Mom, it's me,' when he walked through the door. I miss his laughter and smile. When I hear a car pull up, I think about my son. When I hear the phone ring, I think it's him."

    Kelly read to the jury from a few pages that she had written about her son. She described how, for the first 22 years of his life, it was just the two of them together. Eric's dad was not a part of his life and she had no other children until Eric`s sister was born.

    Kelly took a deep breath before telling the jury about her son`s life. She said he was a standout athlete and played football, basketball and baseball. He stayed out of trouble when he was young despite growing up in rough parts of the city. When she worked for the city parks department, Eric would sometimes come along to neighborhood recreation centers.

    "A lot of times, Eric would be my little protector and would try to put the kids in line when they were disrespecting me. He would say, ‘Don't talk to my mother like that. How would you like it if I disrespected your mother?'" Frances Kelly said.

    Her son attended college at the University of Utah and the University of Tennessee before joining the U.S. Marine Corps, where he worked as a military police officer.

    After serving a stint in the Marines, Kelly returned home and took the civil service test to become a police officer. He failed the first time and instead took the test for the fire department. He also retried the test for the police department. He passed both but chose to become a police officer, Frances Kelly said.

    Kelly's younger sister, Danyelle Cheatham, also testified. She told the jury that her older brother acted as a father figure in her life. She carries his driver's license around in her wallet.

    "My brother suffered for hours, lying there dying. All I can think about is, what was going through his mind while he was dying?" Cheatham testified.

    She said she and her mother visit Eric's grave often. Her mother will often sit there for hours, she said.

    "(He) was the glue to our families," she said.

    The testimony of the slain officers` families left many members of the jury in tears. Poplawski looked straight ahead for most of the testimony, showing little emotion.

    3:24 p.m.

    "Dear Paul: What a fine man you have become. You are everything in life I wish I was. Thank you for being a good son. Happy Birthday. I love you, Dad."

    Paul Sciullo, the father of slain Pittsburgh police Officer Paul Sciullo II, read the message that he wrote in his son`s last birthday card for the jury. Sciullo cried during parts of his testimony as he detailed his son`s athletic accomplishments and the time the two used to spend together hunting and fishing. His testimony came as part of the penalty phase for Poplawski`s trial.

    "We`d be hunting and he`d say, ‘Dad, if you get cold, call me and we'll go home,`" Sciullo, 72, testified.

    He said his son wanted to become a police officer because he felt like he wasn't making a difference.

    "This was his home. He loved everything about it," Sciullo said.

    He said the death of his son has shattered his life. He recounted his recollection of April 4, 2009. He went to the scene at Fairfield Street that morning because he knew his son had been working. He didn't know at the time that his son was already dead.

    "I was stopped by a police officer and they said I couldn't go any farther. They asked my name and I said, ‘I`m Paul Sciullo. My son's working 11 to 7. The officer said, ‘Come with me,'" Sciullo testified.

    He said he and his wife eventually were taken to the Zone 5 station and then to police headquarters on the North Side.

    "That's when I said to Sue, ‘If Paul was injured, we'd be going to the hospital,'" Sciullo said through tears.

    1 P.M.

    Sciullo's mother and sister testified their lives changed dramatically after the murder of their son and brother. Once happy and carefree, the family now faces pain and heartache every day, they said.

    "We will never kiss or hug our beautiful son again," his mother told the jury. "He was truly the love of our lives."

    Julia Sciullo, known to family members as Sue to distinguish her from a daughter, also named Julia, said her son quit a lucrative job in computers to become a police officer, because he wanted to make a difference. She said he made a difference in the lives of everyone who knew him.

    Several jurors cried as she testified, as did courtroom spectators.

    Sciullo, who grew up and continued to live in Bloomfield, was captain of the ice hockey and golf teams at Central Catholic High School. He attended Duquesne University where he majored in psychology, making the dean's list four years. His mother said he decided one day to become a police officer. She tried to talk him out of it because of the danger, but he convinced her that it was something he had to do.

    "I didn't want my son to be a hero," she said. "I just wanted him to be my beautiful son."

    Paul Sciullo came home for dinner every night, even though he had his own house about three blocks away from his parents. His parents maintain the house to this day, paying the mortgage and bills because they cannot bear to sell it, his mother said.

    "How do you pack away such a dynamic existence?" she said.

    She vowed that the family would never again think of Richard Poplawski after the trial concludes, because he already took up too much of their lives.

    Sciullo's sister said her brother was a father-figure for her son, David Paul, after she and her husband divorced. David Paul has been in therapy ever since the murder, she said. Julia Sciullo said her life will never be the same without her brother.

    "The mother that I had April 3 (2009) is not the mother that I have on this day," she said. "She is not the same woman. It's just sadness and pain, and we never had that in our lives."

    The judge broke for lunch after Julia Sciullo finished. Testimony is set to continue at 1:30 p.m.

    11:37 a.m.

    In an opening statement to the jury in an attempt to save his client`s life, Poplawski`s attorney William Brennan admitted Poplawski deserved to be convicted of murder.

    "I assumed it was going to come to this. I`m not an idiot. I have all the same evidence you have. I believed there was sufficient evidence to convict my client of killing three police officers," Brennan said. "You dispassionately looked at the evidence and, quite candidly, reached the proper verdict."

    Brennan urged the jury to compare his reasons why Poplawski should be spared a death sentence; to compare the rest of his client`s life to that one "grotesque, devastating day." He talked about a rough home life where Poplawski was raised at the hands of an alcoholic, abusive grandfather.

    "When I present mitigation evidence, please do not think it is an excuse. There is no excuse for what occurred on April 4, 2009," Brennan told the jury during his 20-minute introduction.

    Brennan talked about Charles Scott, Poplawski`s grandfather, and called him hateful and "an out-and-out racist."

    "He liked guns. Every corner of that house was filled with guns, rifles, handguns. (Charles Scott) sat down at the breakfast table with a handgun next to him," Brennan said. "Mr. Scott liked to threaten people; threatened to take their lives."

    Brennan said that Scott beat Poplawski`s grandmother, Catherine Scott, and pointed a gun at her on one occasion, playing Russian roulette. Other times Scott simply blew phones off the wall inside the home with guns, Brennan said.

    "You`re going to hear about his effect on that family unit," Brennan said. "You`re going to hear about Margaret Poplawski and her relationship with her father. You`ll hear about her intense hatred for her father; her alcoholism and psychiatric care; and her repeated attempts to take her own life."

    Richard Poplawski, seated at the defense table, stared down at the table as Brennan recounted his client`s family history. Brennan also said nuns who taught Poplawski in school would testify that he was a bright, good student.

    "Family history is part of who we are," Brennan said. "All I'm going to ask is that you consider everything."

    11:18 a.m.

    Deputy District Attorney Mark V. Tranquilli began laying out his case this morning as to why the jury that convicted Richard Poplawski of three counts of first-degree murder should now place him on death row.

    Tranquilli repeatedly told the jury to give Poplawski what he "deserves."

    "It is for you to decide – what does he deserve for what he did?" Tranquilli asked during his 30-minute opening statement. "In Allegheny County, we save the death penalty for the worst of the worst – people like Richard Poplawski."

    Tranquilli explained to the jury that they must consider three factors as to why Poplawski deserves death – that victims are police officers, he`s been convicted of multiple killings and that he placed others in deadly danger. He told the jury that there could have been three more dead police officers.

    "Richard Poplawski got a taste of what it was like to murder somebody and then he did it two more times," Tranquilli said. "He`s like a dog that`s bitten once and will bite again."

    11:11 A.M.

    Prosecutor Mark Tranquilli and William Brennan, Richard Poplawski`s attorney for the penalty phase, finished their opening statements to the jury this morning to start the penalty phase hearing.

    Tranquilli said he plans to call 10 family members of the slain officers today.

    Among the people in the packed courtroom were U.S. Attorney David Hickton and Allegheny County Chief Public Defender Michael Machen.

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...#ixzz1QW6TxW8u

  9. #29
    Senior Member Frequent Poster stixfix69's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    377
    Well.....no surprise but the boy got the DP today......

  10. #30
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Poplawski is sentenced to death; police clap for jury

    Richard Poplawski, who was found guilty of ambushing three Pittsburgh police officers as they arrived at his Stanton Heights home for a simple domestic dispute, should be put to death.

    That was the decision tonight of the jury of five women and seven men who weighed the evidence against the 24-year-old during this week's penalty phase of his capital murder trial and chose to impose three death sentences.

    After deliberating for about two hours, the jurors told the judge they had a verdict. The courthouse hallway near the courtroom was cleared. Pittsburgh and suburban officers streamed into the courthouse, bounding up the stairs.

    At 6:59 p.m. the verdict came: Mr. Poplawski should die by lethal injection for the April 4, 2009, shooting deaths of Paul J. Sciullo II, Stephen J. Mayhle and Eric G. Kelly.

    In the auxiliary courtroom where a video feed of proceedings was played, dozens of police officers were waiting for the verdict. Allegheny County Common Please Judge Jeffrey A. Manning had warned against any outbursts; after the verdict was read, though, a collective "yes" could be heard.

    As Mr. Poplawski was led from the courtroom, he was escorted by sheriff's deputies around the entire perimeter of the third floor of the courthouse, which was lined by more than 100 police officers.

    The promenade and demonstration of force was clearly an organized effort. As Mr. Poplawski passed by the officers, their heads turned to follow him as he made his way down the hallway.

    The officers also cheered as the jurors left the courtroom and again for Judge Manning and then held a moment of silence.

    Deputy city police Chief Paul Donaldson said it was a verdict that police had hoped for, but one that didn't erase their grief.

    He said the police bureau's attention now turns to the officers' families, "who bear a special burden we do not understand."

    As the building emptied, police were holding a ceremony in the courthouse courtyard.

    District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. thanked those families, saying in a statement they "handled the trial with a quiet dignity." He also thanked the jury from Dauphin County, which had found Mr. Poplawski guilty on Saturday following a weeklong trial.

    Of the officers, Mr. Zappala said, "Their actions on April 4, 2009, were nothing short of extraordinary and this community will forever remember their sacrifice. It is often said that in God's mansion there are many rooms and I have no doubt that each of them occupies one."

    Mr. Poplawski's attorney indicated that his client would be filing an appeal and Judge Manning said he had 120 days to do so. The judge also set a formal sentencing date of Sept. 6.

    The jury's decision followed a full morning of testimony today from witnesses called by the defense.

    A variety of family members spoke about what defense attorney William Brennan called an "obscene" family dynamic. They described Mr. Poplawski's abusive grandfather, as well as a complete lack of affection from his mother, Margaret Poplawski.

    "I've never seen her kiss him or put her arms around him and hug him or show him any kind of affection," testified his great-aunt, Joanne Duffy.

    The last defense witness was Mr. Poplawski's grandmother, Catherine Scott, whom he called "Cuckie." She told the jury her husband had a penchant for guns, hated most people and once was accused of raping her sister.

    As soon as Ms. Scott concluded her testimony -- with the jury out of the courtroom -- Mr. Poplawski attempted to apologize.

    Judge Manning had just asked the defendant if he agreed to waive his right to testify. Mr. Poplawski paused for several seconds before answering.

    Then he replied, "I would like to apologize ... " before his attorneys swarmed around him to make him stop talking.

    When they were done conferring, Mr. Poplawski told the court that he did not wish to speak.

    The jury, which was selected in Dauphin County and brought here because of extensive pre-trial publicity, began deliberations about 4:15, at the conclusion of closing arguments.

    Mr. Tranquilli spoke for nearly an hour-and-a-half, reminding the jurors that they were not there to pass judgment on the state statute that permits the death penalty, but on Mr. Poplawski himself.

    "A decision in this case is not right or wrong," he said. "It's not a moral question. It's a just decision.

    "What does he deserve? Not based upon his life, but based upon what he did."

    But defense attorney William Brennan asked the jury to sift the emotional testimony it heard from the victims' families out of the facts of the case.

    "If it comes down to you comparing those three [officers] to this guy sitting over here, I might as well just go sit down," Mr. Brennan said. "You don't weigh good people versus bad.

    "These gentlemen, who were so good, got that way from the love and respect they got from their parents."

    In contrast, Mr. Brennan focused his closing in part on what he characterized as Mr. Poplawski's dysfunctional family, calling the family dynamic "obscene."

    "My God. What kind of a family is this?" he asked. "Am I saying it's an excuse? No. But you want to know what it is? It's a fact."

    http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11179...#ixzz1QcWgaNfv

Page 3 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •