A jury must now decide whether an eastern Pennsylvania man transferred an assault rifle to a man who used it to kill a sheriff's deputy.
The Reading Eagle reports that closing arguments were delivered Thursday in Northampton County Court in the case of 28-year-old Jared Engleman of Kutztown.
He is charged with having transferred the AK-47-style weapon to 25-year-old Matthew Connor, a convicted felon with mental health issues.
Engleman testified Thursday that he sold the rifle to Connor's father, Maurice, who pleaded no contest Wednesday to illegally providing a handgun to his son.
Maurice Connor took the stand and denied having met Engleman, but declined to answer further questions.
Prosecutors said Connor gave a handgun and $200 for a rifle to 25-year-old Matthew Connor, a convicted felon who later killed deputy sheriff Kyle Pagerly and was killed himself in a June 2011 exchange of gunfire with authorities.
Police say that Matthew Connor left a suicide note two days prior to the incident for his friends and family. Sources said that Connors wanted to die -- suicide by cop.
The incident played out when authorities paid a visit to 43 Pine Swamp Road in Albany, Pa. to serve Connors with a warrant for burglary, criminal trespass and various other offenses.
Connor’s girlfriend answered the door and while she was talking to police, her boyfriend slipped out the back and ran into the woods. Officers followed him. It was then that Connor threatened Pagerly with an AK-47. He refused to drop the gun as ordered, and a gun battle ensued, police say.
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Connor was pronounced dead on the scene. Pagerly died the next morning at Lehigh Valley Hospital.
The deputy sheriff was a Reading native who had previously served in the military. Pagerly and his wife Alecia were expecting their first child.
“Kyle was a great, great person, great family man,” Sheriff Eric Weaknecht said.
