Evidence against Stanley B. Hoss Jr. was so compelling and complete in his cop killer case that the public defenders assigned to represent him changed their definition of victory.
Victory would not be a "not guilty" verdict.
Victory would be any sentence less than death.
Edgar Snyder, whose large Pittsburgh law firm bears his name, was 28 in 1969. He had been out of law school for about four years and was a public defender. The concept of public defenders -- defense attorneys paid for by the government -- was new then.
Snyder said he was at first apprehensive about representing Hoss because of the man's violent reputation.
But Hoss never threatened him or another public defender. Still, the defense attorney remembers Hoss as "crazy in the sense that he was amoral."
"We're no longer shocked by kidnapping and murder," Snyder said. "But 40 years ago, it was not commonplace."
Defending Hoss was a challenge -- and just because his client was deemed a sociopath.
"People kept asking me, 'How can you represent him?'" Snyder recalled last week. "I didn't get it. An attorney represents a client. I didn't understand."
Then one night during the trial, he understood.
The young attorney was driving home to Churchill along the Parkway East when "a bullet ricocheted off my car -- a bullet ."
"No one ever proved there was any connection between the Hoss case and the person who fired that bullet, but I know there was a connection," Snyder said.
Despite the attorneys' efforts, the jury quickly convicted Hoss of first-degree murder.
He was sentenced to death.
"I remember my daughter was born on March 10, 1970. That was the day that Hoss was sentenced to death," Snyder said. "I remember Bill Burns on KDKA-TV saying the day was memorable for me because of my daughter's birth and Hoss' sentence."
However, appeals were filed, and Hoss' death sentence eventually was reduced to life in prison.
