Philadelphia jury convicts suburban man of killing Temple University officer

Philadelphia – A Philadelphia jury sentenced a suburban man on Wednesday for killing a police officer at the University of the Temple who had driven him as a suspect in a series of cars.

That Miles Pfeffer killed the officer Christopher Fitzgerald had not been disputed. The trial for murder was largely focused on the question of whether the ball death of February 2023 was intentional.

After less than half an hour of deliberations, the jurors found him guilty of first degree murder, the murder of an agent of the police, firearm crimes and other offenses.

The lawyers of Pfeffer, who was arrested a few hours later in the sprawling property of his 18th century mother from the 18th century in Buckingham, said that it was a frightened 18-year-old who had panicked that night.

The prosecutors told the jurors in the opening declarations that Fitzgerald had continued after spotting Pfeffer, his brother and a friend dressed in black and carrying masks in an area where there had been a series of flights and cars. Two of the teenagers hid. Fitzgerald caught up with Pfeffer and ordered him to the ground, leading to a struggle, the authorities said.

Pfeffer then released a pistol and shot Fitzgerald six times, sometimes at the end of the point, the prosecutors said. A video of the security camera played in court for jurors showed part of the prosecution and filming. Pfeffer’s brother testified against him at the trial.

Fitzgerald, 31, was married and father.

The assistant defender Susan Ricci declared in the openings that the actions of Pfeffer had not been premeditated.

But the District Assistant Prosecutor, Lauren Crump, said that Pfeffer’s video standing above the officer and that the shooting had proven his intention.

Pfeffer, now aged 20, is sentenced to life imprisonment. The courts of the court did not immediately disclose the date of conviction.

The district prosecutor Larry Krasner opposes the death penalty and did not prosecute him in this case, despite the calls for capital pain of the father of Fitzgerald, a former city officer who now directs the police of Denver Transit, and the University Police Association temple, who described Krasner’s “devastating” decision.