Allegheny DA to seek death penalty in Crawford Village homicide
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. announced Thursday he would seek the death penalty against two men charged in a fatal shooting in Crawford Village.
Jonathan “BJ” Coles, 20, and Roman Jones, 24, were charged with homicide in the Jan. 20 shooting of 24-year-old William Doyle of McKeesport . Police said the two chased Doyle before they opened fire on him.
Zappala filed paperwork with the court Thursday morning indicating he intends to seek the death penalty for both men. The filing indicates Doyle was a witness to a murder and was killed to prevent him from testifying.
This is the second time in two months that Zappala said he plans to seek the death penalty. He said he will seek it against James Karr, 46, of South Park, who is charged in the death of his estranged wife , Maureen Karr, 56, on December 30. James Karr is accused of tying his wife up, dousing her in vodka and setting her and the house on fire.
Gov. Tom Wolf's moratorium on capital punishment does not affect bids to seek that punishment, authorities said.
Wolf has said he plans to issue a reprieve in every case in which an execution is scheduled until he receives a report from the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment. A Senate resolution establishing the panel gave the committee a two-year deadline to conclude its work — which would have been early in 2014 — but a final report is still incomplete.
In the McKeesport case, Doyle was with two unidentified females who were wounded in the shooting and drove themselves to a hospital for treatment.
One of the victims told police Doyle contacted her earlier in the evening and asked her to pick up him and the other victim in Port Vue and give them a ride to Crawford Village where they would pick up two other men and go to Clairton.
The victim took them all to Clairton and brought them back to Crawford Village. Once they were all back at the housing development, Doyle and the two men got out of the car near building 48.
The three men were gone for about five minutes. They were returning to the car and got within about 10 feet of it when the two suspects began firing on Doyle and the victims in the car, according to arrest papers.
The women in the car sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Doyle fled on foot and was shot near Building 62. Police gathered 13 shell casings and one bullet in the area where Doyle was shot.
The surviving victims identified Jones and Coles as the shooters.
Doyle was pronounced dead at UPMC McKeesport about 15 minutes after the shooting.
Adam Brandolph is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Staff writer Eric Slagle contributed to this story.
