Execution Date Set For Man Convicted In Fatal Shooting Of 3 Pittsburgh Officers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- An execution date has been set for the man convicted of killing three Pittsburgh police officers in Stanton Heights.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Richard Poplawski is scheduled to be executed on March 3.
Execution date set for death row inmate Richard Poplawski. pic.twitter.com/MapwY6mzCm
— AlleghenyCountyDA (@AlleghenyCoDA) January 18, 2017
Poplawski was found guilty and sentenced to death in June 2011 of killing Officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayle and Paul Sciullo II. They were gunned down in 2009 while responding to a domestic disturbance call from Poplawski's mother at the family home.
Since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, three inmates in Pennsylvania have been executed by lethal injection.
The last execution was in 1999.
But the order for Poplawski's execution may be a moot point, because in 2015, Gov. Tom Wolf placed a moratorium on the death penalty.
He is waiting on a report from a task force that is studying the future of capital punishment.
That report has not been finalized.
Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter