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Police Commander Has Stroke On Stand; Judge Declares Mistrial

POSTED: 12:37 pm EDT June 26, 2008
UPDATED: 1:51 pm EDT June 26, 2008

A judge has declared a mistrial in a criminal case after a Pittsburgh schools official suffered a stroke while testifying.

Allegheny Common Pleas Court Judge David Cashman issued the mistrial Thursday in the homicide trial of 18-year-old Joseph Hall and 19-year-old Lamont Hall. The men are accused of killing 17-year-old James Stubbs.

Pittsburgh Public Schools police Cmdr. Joseph Garrett, 53, was testifying in the case Wednesday when his speech slurred and he slumped down. A paramedic, who was a witness in the homicide case, was able to attend to Garret quickly. He was taken to the hospital and his condition is not known.

"His speech became garbled and out of the corner of my eye I saw him slump down," Cashman told our news exchange partners at the Tribune Review. "He said he had a headache on the left side of his head and he had paralysis on his right side. His right hand was just folded in his lap." Cashman said he had to declare a mistrial because defense attorneys were not able to cross-examine Garrett.

A drive-by shooting in the city's Homewood neighborhood left Stubbs dead Dec. 20, 2006. Several shots were fired that afternoon near the corner of Lang Avenue and Monticello Street, which is only about a block away from Westinghouse High School.

Stubbs, a sophomore at Letsche Education Center in Homewood, was talking on a cell phone when someone drove by and opened fire. Stubbs died at UPMC Presbyterian hospital.

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