Albuquerque Journal

Killer in Pa. state trooper ambush sentenced to death

- BY LAURA MCCRYSTAL THE PHILADELPH­IA INQUIRER

MILFORD Pa. — Convicted murderer and terrorist Eric Frein, who killed a Pennsylvan­ia state trooper and wounded another in a 2014 ambush and set off one of the largest manhunts in the nation’s history, remained silent and showed no reaction as he was sent to death row Thursday afternoon.

“It is the hope of this court that the story of Eric Frein ends today,” Pike County Judge Gregory H. Chelak said as he imposed the jury’s death sentence verdict.

The Thursday afternoon hearing was largely a formality; a jury from Chester County concluded late Wednesday night that Frein should be executed for killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass in a 2014 ambush on the State Police barracks in Blooming Grove.

Chelak imposed an additional sentence of up to 194 years in state prison for other charges against Frein, including terrorism and attempted murder.

The hearing marked the end to a nearly three-year saga that began with the sniper-style attack that led to the manhunt that paralyzed parts of Pike and Monroe counties, drawing more than 1,000 law enforcemen­t officers to search for him in the Poconos.

But Frein is unlikely to be executed in the next few years — if ever.

His lawyers have vowed to appeal, and he will receive an automatic stay as a death row inmate. Pennsylvan­ia has not carried out an execution since 1999, and Gov. Tom Wolf placed a moratorium on executions in 2015.

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