Execution date set for man convicted of killing 3 Pittsburgh officers

PITTSBURGH — The secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections signed a notice of execution on Wednesday for Richard Andrew Poplawski, the man sentenced to death for the ambush-style murders of three Pittsburgh police officers in 2009.

According to the notice, Poplawski’s date of execution has been set for March 3.

Officers Eric G. Kelly, Stephen J. Mayhle and Paul J. Sciullo II were killed in April 2009 by Poplawski while responding to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance at his house in Stanton Heights. The city in 2011 condemned the home he shared with his mother and razed it, Channel 11’s news partners at

reported.

The state Supreme Court in December 2015

.

Poplawski, along with Aric Shayne Woodard, Patrick Ray Haney and Wayne A. Smith - whose executions were set Wednesday for March, are likely a long way from execution.

Federal appeals are available to all four, and as

reports, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has imposed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty, using his power to postpone executions until a state task force delivers a report on whether the death penalty is fairly and effectively applied in the state.

According to

, since Pennsylvania reinstated the death penalty 37 years ago, only three people have been executed, and they all volunteered, waiving their right to appeal.

Cox Media Group