Jury Told to Ignore Piazza Shooter's Testimony at Trial

Admitted shooter in the Piazza at Schmidt's Case refused to answer defense attorney's questions

Philadelphia judge has ordered jurors to disregard testimony by one of the admitted gunmen in a drug robbery slaying because he refused to answer questions from defense attorneys representing his alleged accomplices.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the testimony of admitted shooter Donnell Murchison was stricken from the record at the trial of three others charged in the June 2009 slayings of Rian Thal and Timothy Gilmore.

The victims were fatally shot inside the newly opened Piazza at Schmidts in the Northern Liberties neighborhood in what authorities say was a drug robbery that didn't go as planned.

The Inquirer report says Murchison answered questions from prosecutors on Friday but stonewalled on cross-examination.

Murchison pleaded guilty at the start of jury selection in return for a life sentence.
 

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