Prosecutors will no longer seek the death penalty against the man accused of shooting and killing McKeesport police officer Sean Sluganski in 2023, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said.
Johnathan Morris is accused of killing Sluganski and injuring another officer after police were called to respond to a mental health crisis in McKeesport on Feb. 6, 2023.
Prosecutors didn’t give a reason for rescinding their notice to seek the death penalty, but in a statement on Thursday, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office broadly explained how the process works. The spokesperson said that in first-degree murder cases in Pennsylvania, prosecutors have to decide whether they’ll seek the death penalty by the formal arraignment, which happens 30 days after a preliminary hearing…