PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jurors return Thursday to resume deliberations for a third day in the case against the remaining defendant in the slayings of five people and an unborn baby at a western Pennsylvania cookout almost four years ago.
The Allegheny County panel deliberated for a second day Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the trial of 33-year-old Cheron Shelton, who is charged with first- and third-degree murder in the March 2016 slayings in Pittsburgh’s Wilkinsburg suburb.
Charges were dismissed earlier against 31-year-old Robert Thomas, who authorities had accused of opening fire on one side before Shelton gunned down victims running onto a porch for safety. Prosecutors allege that the target, who survived, was someone Shelton believed was involved in the 2013 murder of a friend.
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Defense attorney Randall McKinney argued that evidence cited by prosecutors could be interpreted in more benign ways. Prosecutors have said they will seek capital punishment in the event of a first-degree murder conviction.
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