PITTSBURGH,None — A jury deciding whether a convicted triple cop killer gets life in prison or the death penalty will hear testimony about the Stanton Heights man's allegedly troubled upbringing.
Defense attorney William Brennan has already told the jury that convicted 24-year-old Richard Poplawski that they'll hear testimony about his life with an alcoholic, suicidal mother and a grandfather who spouted racist rants and was violent when others disagreed with him -- on one occasion shooting the phone of a wall to make his point.
That man died earlier this year and Poplawski's mother, Margaret, has said she wants to testify in her son's defense, but isn't sure she'll be allowed.
Poplawski faces the possible death penalty because the same jury convicted him of first-degree murder for shooting three city officers who responded to his mother's 911 call about a dispute they were having on April 4, 2009.
It was an emotional day in court on Monday as family members of Officers Stephen Mayhle, Eric Kelly and Paul Sciullo II took the stand.
VIDEO: Emotion Overcomes Families, Some Jurors PDF: Ronald Mayhle's Victim Impact Statement PDF: Tameka Kelly's Victim Impact Statement PDF: Marena Kelly's Victim Impact Statement
Sciullo's mother, Julia Sciullo, said she and her husband still pay the bills and the mortgage on their son's home because they can't bear to "pack away" his life more than two years after his murder.
She was the first of 10 relatives of the officers who prosecutors called as witnesses on Monday.
"How do you pack away such a dynamic existence?" Sciullo testified, prompting tears from spectators, including a sheriff's deputy guarding the courtroom, and several jurors. "I didn't want him to be a hero. I just wanted him to be my beautiful son."
VIDEO: Defense: Pittsburgh Cop Killer Had Abusive Boyhood VIDEO: Poplawski After Guilty Verdict AUDIO: Poplawski 911 Call (Warning: Graphic Language) SLIDESHOW: Courtroom Sketches; Evidence Photos
The victim impact testimony provided by Sciullo and the other family members is crucial to the penalty phase of the case because, as Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Mark Tranquilli told the jury, it serves as a kind of tie-breaker should the jury decide that there are both aggravating circumstances -- which made the killings worthy of the death penalty – and mitigating circumstances, such as Poplawski's allegedly abusive upbringing, that might merit sparing his life.
"There is no excuse for what occurred on April 4, 2009," Brennen told the jury. "There's none. It is unspeakable."
Still, Brennen said he'll present evidence that might help explain Poplawski's actions when he donned a bulletproof vest before Officer Sciullo could arrive to investigate a 911 call from Poplawski's mother, who wanted police to remove him from the house after she argued with him about his puppies urinating on the floor of their home.
The jury found Poplawski gunned down Sciullo as he got to the front door, then shot Mayhle with an AK-47 after a brief gun battle in the house, before ambushing Kelly as he drove up in his personal vehicle -- off-duty, but stopping to help after hearing radio distress calls about the first two killings. Poplawski surrendered several hours later when he called 911 for help because of bleeding from a leg wound inflicted by Mayhle.
Tranquilli told the jury he's already proven the three aggravating circumstances that merit the death penalty: The victims were police officers, there were multiple killings and others were put in mortal danger by Poplawski's actions. Poplawski was also convicted of firing on nine other officers, wounding one, and of endangering neighbors whose homes were hit with gunfire.
Brennen argues that Poplawski's relative youth and lack of a criminal record should be considered as mitigating factors, as well as his upbringing -- specifically a hard-drinking grandfather who helped raise Poplawski and was known to threaten people and shoot telephones off the wall when he was angry.
Tranquilli is expected to argue that the impact on the victims' families tips the scales of justice in favor of death. He told the jury that Poplawski's youth and clean record were all but irrelevant given the immensity of his crimes.
"Hey, folks, three dead police officers and a bunch of neighbors in the zone of danger, that's a day's work," Tranquilli said, going on to compare Poplawski to a vicious dog. "How important is it that this dog waited to bite and then bit three times in the same day instead of spacing them out over his 24 years" of life?
Sciullo's sister Julia Mullen was the second family witness, saying her now 21-year-old son vomited and collapsed when learning of his uncle's death and has been in therapy ever since. She said her brother had been a surrogate father to the boy, whose father she divorced when he was very young.
Mullen said the killing also affected her parents, saying her father, now in his 70s, suffered so much from his son's murder that she wished their father had died when he had a serious heart attack at age 55 "so he wouldn't have this pain."
"The mother that I had on April 3 (2009) is not the mother that I have on June 27, if that's what today is," Mullen said, crying. "She's not the same anymore. She's there, somewhere."
Officer Kelly's mother also took the stand.
"Pictures of me and Eric continually flash in front of my eyes. We can never watch another football game together. He was my only son," Frances Kelly said.
Ronald Mayhle, Stephen Mayhle's father, sobbed as he read, "I constantly think of things I should have done, or shouldn't have done and things I should have said or shouldn't have said. Did he know how proud I was of him? How much I loved him? If only I could tell him now."
At one point, Tranquilli had to take over reading his statement because Ronald Mayhle was having trouble speaking through his tears.
At least one member of the jury, media personal, family members and police officers cried as Ronald Mayhle's statement was read.
When Officer Mayhle's wife descibed her now 6-year-old daughter's reaction to her father's death, tears were shed throughout the courtroom.
Shandra Mayhle quoted her daughter as saying, "Why did the bad guy have to kill Daddy, Mommy?" Mayhle's wife said "My innocent girls have been introduced to the unfairness of life too young."
She went on to describe her oldest daughter's depression and her day-to-day struggles of living without her "best friend and high school sweetheart."
Poplawski held a tissue in his hand and appeared to be wiping away tears as a letter Mayhle's daughter wrote the day of his funeral was displayed.
It said "Daddy, why did you die? I love you daddy."
The defense will begin calling witnesses Tuesdsay morning. In a surprise move, Poplawski`s lawyer told the judge they would not use any type of psychiatric testimony.
Brennan said the defense was concerned that evidence that had been barred during the guilt phase would make it into the penalty phase if they introduced mental illness reports.