© 2024 90.5 WESA

Donate

Play Live Radio

Next Up:

0:00

0:00

0:00 0:00

Available On Air Stations

Local Headlines

WESA News

Contact 90.5 WESA with a story idea or news tip: news@wesa.fm

Guilty Verdict In Death Penalty Trial In Officer's Slaying

90.5 WESA | By Associated Press

Published November 12, 2019 at 4:57 PM EST

Police officers walk past a police car draped in black parked at a funeral home where a visitation for New Kensington Police Officer Brian Shaw was held on Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, in Lower Burrell, Pa.

A jury has convicted a man of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a Pennsylvania police officer almost two years ago.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against 31-year-old Rahmael Sal Holt in the November 2017 slaying of New Kensington officer Brian Shaw.

Prosecutors contend Holt was an armed drug dealer who had planned to rob the driver of the SUV that Shaw attempted to stop in Old Kensington in Westmoreland County on the night of the shooting. Holt has maintained that he wasn't the person who fired.

A jury convicted Holt on Tuesday after about an hour of deliberations, and will begin hearing arguments Wednesday for and against a death sentence.

Holt's father, 48-year-old Gregory Baucum, faces witness intimidation charges stemming from the case.

Tags

Local Headlines Local Stories Brian Shaw New Kensington Police Department

Associated Press

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.

See stories by Associated Press

Local Headlines

Heavy rain and damaging winds are in the forecast for much of Western Pennsylvania today

Doug Shugarts

Wind gusts of up to 45 miles an hour and up to an inch of rain are expected here in Pittsburgh, but the most severe weather will hit communities in the Laurel Highlands.
Local Headlines

Investigators pinpoint house as source of explosion that killed 6 last month in Plum Borough

Associated Press

Investigators say the location of an explosion that killed six people and destroyed three houses was inside one of the homes, and they're ruling out an outside cause, including wells, pipelines and other utilities.
Local Headlines

10 damaged homes remain uninhabitable, a week after Plum explosion that killed 6

Associated Press

Three houses at the center of a recent explosion near Pittsburgh that killed six people will need to be torn down and 10 others are not currently inhabitable, officials say.

Load More