Plea Bargains Offered For Baumhammers, TaylorDistrict Attorney's Office Has Not RespondedUPDATED: 5:27 p.m. EDT April 8, 2001 Attorneys for both Richard Baumhammers and Ronald Taylor have offered plea bargains of life imprisionment in order to avoid the death penalty.
The defense attorneys made the offer several weeks ago.
The district attorney's office has not responded to requests from both attorneys.
Taylor allegedly went on a shooting spree in Wilkinsburg in March of last year, killing three people and wounding two others. Prosecutors say that Taylor chose his victims because they are white.
Baumhammers was arrested a month later for allegedly killing five people and leaving another paralyzed. Prosecutors say that he picked his victims because they were minorities.
Judge Jeffrey Manning could make a key decision Monday during a pretrial hearing in the Baumhammers' case. Manning will determine if evidence that allegedly shows that Baumhammers may have been involved in other racial incidents before the shooting should be entered as evidence at his trial.
The incidents include an alleged cross burning and a witness' account that Baumhammers punched a woman at a cafe in Paris because he thought that she was Jewish.
Copyright 2001 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
| |||||
   | |||||
