Pennsylvania

Cost of Defending Pennsylvania Trooper Ambush Killer Is Up to $426,000

Eric Frien shot & killed 1 trooper & injured another in a 2014 ambush

A judge has approved more than $55,000 in new defense attorney fees for a sniper who killed a Pennsylvania state trooper and wounded another outside their barracks.

The defense fees approved by a Pike County judge for 34-year-old Eric Frein bring the total costs of his defense to about $426,000.

The county has paid defense attorneys William Ruzzo and Michael Weinstein just over $300,000, including legal fees of $125 per hour each, plus meals and lodging. The court had previously approved paying various defense experts, plus a private detective and neuropsychologist who examined Frein about $126,000.

Frein was convicted in April and sentenced to death in the September 2014 murder of Cpl. Bryon Dickson II outside the Blooming Grove barracks. Trooper Alex Douglass was also wounded by Frein, who was caught after a 48-day manhunt.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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