Philly prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against a Bucks County man accused of killing a Temple police officer

Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against Miles Pfeffer, the 19-year-old Bucks County man charged in the shooting death of Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald last year.

That decision, announced Wednesday, drew an angry response from Fitzgerald’s family, who have long advocated for that punishment if Pfeffer is convicted of killing the officer. And the union that represents Temple police officers called it “devastating news for the Fitzgerald family and law enforcement officers throughout Philadelphia.”

Fitzgerald’s father, Joel, said in a statement that District Attorney Larry Krasner, a former defense lawyer, had “allowed hubris and an intense disdain for law enforcement officers to cloud his judgment.”

“Krasner is unable to divorce himself from years as a defense attorney,” he added.

A spokesperson for Krasner, Dustin Slaughter, said the prosecutor’s decision not to pursue the death penalty was “consistent with his oath to seek justice and uphold the law.” The decision, Slaughter said, was made with input from Fitzgerald’s family and legal experts.

Fitzgerald’s widow, Marissa, disputed that in an interview Wednesday and said Krasner did not seek the family’s input aside from a meeting last year with his office’s Capital Case Review Committee.

“We went into that meeting saying why this needed to be a death penalty case,” she said. “After that, there was nothing from Larry Krasner. How can you sit here and say you took our input when you didn’t bother to call after the fact?

Relatives of Fitzgerald, who was posthumously promoted to sergeant, said they were notified of Krasner’s decision by Joanne Pescatore, chief of homicide, late Tuesday, hours before the deadline to notify Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara A. McDermott. The family rebuked Krasner for not allowing them to speak to him directly about his decision.

Police say Pfeffer shot Fitzgerald, 31, multiple times in the face and chest at close range after the officer spotted him and two others, dressed in black clothing and wearing face masks, near the Temple campus last year, police said. There had been a spate of carjackings and robberies in the area, and Fitzgerald said over police radio that he was going to make a pedestrian stop.

Pfeffer fled, and Fitzgerald chased after him. After a brief struggle, police say, Pfeffer pulled out a pistol and shot Fitzgerald. He then stood over the officer and fired multiple times at point-blank range, killing him. Pfeffer carjacked a man nearby and fled to his mother’s home in Buckingham Township, Bucks County, police say. He was arrested there hours later.

Pfeffer, who was 18 and a high school senior at the time, was charged with murder, murder of a law enforcement officer, robbery, and weapons violations.

At a hearing Wednesday morning, Pescatore said she had filed formal notice of the decision not to pursue the death penalty at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Pescatore, in response to a question from McDermott, said there have been no negotiations with Pfeffer’s attorneys about a plea deal.

That decision, she said, would be up to Krasner.

Joseph Marrone, a lawyer for the Fitzgerald family, said Wednesday that the death penalty is warranted.

“This is a message being sent to law enforcement that ‘We don’t have your back,’ and that’s troubling,” Marrone said. “[Krasner] is an elected official. You can’t manage a justice system based on personal beliefs.”

There is a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania that was enacted by then-Gov. Tom Wolf in 2015. Gov. Josh Shapiro, who opposes the death penalty, said he would seek to abolish the death penalty. And Krasner has made it clear that he does not support capital punishment.

Joel Fitzgerald said that the lack of communication from Krasner’s office in the Pfeffer case is emblematic of what other families of homicide victims in the city have experienced, and that he and his family will use their platform to raise awareness.

“What [Krasner] did today was set a precedent,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s not going to go after people who commit capital murder against law enforcement members or anyone else in this city.”