PITTSBURGH — The jury in the case of Officer Michael Rosfeld, who is charged in the shooting death of Antwon Rose in East Pittsburgh, will come from Dauphin County, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered.
The decision was announced in January,a week after a judge ruled the jury would come from outside Allegheny County.
PA Supreme Court orders that Dauphin County will provide the jury under the change of venire granted in the case of Commonwealth of Pa. v Michael Rosfeld.
— AlleghenyCountyDA (@AlleghenyCoDA) January 22, 2019
Rosfeld is charged with criminal homicide in the death of Rose, who was shot as he and another teenager ran from a traffic stop on the night of June 19. Rose was unarmed.
Judge Alex Bicket cited pretrial publicity and intense media scrutiny as reasons a jury from Allegheny County would not be fair and impartial, Channel 11’s Rick Earle reported. Bicket also cited numerous protests in Pittsburgh and surrounding communities following the shooting.
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The judge wrote a change of venire is the only mechanism to assure that the defendant is tried by a jury that has not been adversely affected by the pervasive pretrial publicity.
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