Monroeville Mall shooting suspect opts for judge instead of jury trial
PITTSBURGH (AP) – An 18-year-old accused of wounding three people – including two bystanders – at a Pittsburgh-area mall last year has decided to have a judge, not a jury, decide his guilt.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Tarod Thornhill opted for the bench trial in Allegheny County on Wednesday.
Defense attorney Christopher Urbano acknowledges Thornhill is responsible for the February 2015 shootings in Macy’s at the Monroeville Mall.
But Urbano told the judge Thornhill’s “decision-making was compromised” because he was afraid of his intended target, a 20-year-old man with whom Thornhill had an altercation earlier that evening.
Prosecutors say that man wasn’t armed, however, and that Thornhill is guilty of attempted homicide as well as aggravated assault, endangerment and other charges stemming from the two bystanders Thornhill wounded, and others endangered by the shooting.