The Pennsylvania district attorney who prosecuted a homeless man accused of killing three of his relatives last month announced after his first court appearance Wednesday that he would seek the death penalty for the suspect, who said all he could do was “pray to God.” did.
Andre Gordon Jr. faces murder charges in the March 16 shooting deaths of his stepmother, teenage sister and mother of his children during a shocking crime spree in two states. There is.
“I will put this defendant on notice,” District Attorney Jennifer Shawn said in court Wednesday, according to the newspaper. Bucks County Courier.
Sean said he made the hasty declaration because of “multiple murders and grave danger to others.”
“We had the opportunity to speak to the family and find out their position,” she told reporters outside.
“Time will ultimately tell how this case will play out. But it needed to be certified before formal arraignment.”
The state has not killed an inmate convicted of murder since 1999.
Sean is seeking the death penalty, but Gov. Josh Shapiro has said he will not allow any executions in the state during his term.
Police said Gordon, 26, carjacked a car in Trenton, New Jersey, then crossed the Pennsylvania border to a Levittown home where he and his stepmother, Karen Gordon, 52, and his 13-year-old sister, Kela, died. He is suspected of shooting Gordon.
He then went to another home in the same town, where police say he killed Taylor Daniel, 25, a mother of two, and attacked and injured the children’s grandmother with a rifle.
Police said two children were also present at the scene of the shooting.
He was then arrested by police after carjacking another car and taking it back to New Jersey.
He waived extradition to Pennsylvania early Wednesday.
At his first court appearance, Gordon, who was not represented by a lawyer, appeared confused before Judge John Galloway.
When Galloway asked if he understood this was a preliminary hearing to read the charges, Gordon replied, “No.”
And when the judge repeated it, he answered, “Yes, sir.”
The defendant was remanded.
When reporters outside asked him if he had anything to say, he quietly muttered, “Pray, pray to God.”
The motive for the deadly attack is unknown.
with post wire
