Pennsylvania

Emotional Testimony by Tooper's Widow Unfair to Killer: Defense

Eric Frein killed a state trooper and wounded another during a 2014 ambush in Pike County. Frein was sentenced to death on Wednesday night. NBC10’s Randy Gyllenhaal spoke with the surviving trooper just hours after Frein’s sentencing.

Defense attorneys say emotional testimony by a Pennsylvania state trooper's widow was unfair to his killer and the death penalty imposed in his case should be overturned.

The motion filed Wednesday is the first by the defense since sniper Eric Frein was convicted last month in the 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.

Frein's attorneys say Tiffany Dickson's emotional testimony overrode any "logical reasoned moral decision the jury could make" to spare Frein's life. [[238427591, C]]

The attorneys want a new sentencing hearing with stricter limits on victim impact testimony.

Frein didn't testify in his trial's penalty phase because his lawyers feared he might try to "rationalize" the ambush.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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