Judge takes himself off Antwon Rose homicide case
Action is taken after controversial remarks
The judge assigned to the homicide trial of the East Pittsburgh police officer accused of killing Antwon Rose II removed himself from the case Wednesday, citing an “appearance of impropriety.”
Last week, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani said he believed he could fairly hear the case against Officer Michael Rosfeld even after the judge appeared on a cable television news program two days after the shooting and commented about it.
At the first pretrial conference in the case, Officer Rosfeld’s attorney, Patrick Thomassey, asked the judge to recuse himself, saying Judge Mariani’s comments — including that video from the incident made it appear that the shooting was not justified — disqualified him from hearing the case.
At the time, Judge Mariani said he believed he could be fair, but at a hearing Wednesday to address a request for a gag order from the prosecution, the judge said he believed it would be best to step aside.
While he said the “appearance of impropriety” was largely undefined, it was broad and that recusing himself allowed him to “err on the side of caution.”
Judge Alexander P. Bicket will now hear Officer Rosfeld’s case.
Officer Rosfeld was charged following the June 19 shooting of Antwon, 17, as he fled a traffic stop in East Pittsburgh. The officer had pulled over the car in which Antwon was a passenger just minutes after, police said, it was involved in a driveby shooting in North Braddock. Antwon was unarmed when he fled.
The hearing Wednesday was in response to a motion filed last week by Daniel E. Fitzsimmons, chief trial deputy district attorney, who sought a gag order after Mr. Thomassey told reporters that he believed the prosecution was trying to hide exculpatory evidence from him.
Mr. Thomassey, in a written response filed Wednesday, said he did not object to the gag order.
Separately, the prosecution on Tuesday filed a motion seeking a protective order to prohibit Mr. Thomassey from turning over reports and witness information to Officer Rosfeld. Mr. Fitzsimmons said he is in the process of providing discovery materials to the defense.
Those materials, the prosecutor wrote, will include “investigative reports and other material related
to civilian witnesses that may be called upon to testify on behalf of the commonwealth.”
“Based on the recent increase of witness intimidation during criminal investigations and prosecutions, the commonwealth is extremely concerned the disclosure of any investigative reports, criminal history reports (i.e., ‘rap sheets,’) and statements of these civilian witnesses to the defendant will endanger those civilian witnesses.”
The motion goes on to say that discovery materials are often found being passed around the Allegheny County Jail and on social media sites, including Facebook and Instagram, and are used to intimidate witnesses.
The motion asks that the court issue an order prohibiting Mr. Thomassey from providing those materials to Officer Rosfeld or anyone else.
That issue, along with the gag order, will now fall to Judge Bicket.