Man’s death penalty phase delayed by ill juror
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GREENSBURG (AP) – A jury in Western Pennsylvania was set to begin the penalty phase of a trial for a man convicted last week or killing his mother, sister and elderly aunt in his automotive glass shop in 2009.
The penalty phase was to have begun Monday in Westmoreland County for 52-year-old Kevin Murphy, but a juror was ill.
Instead, the penalty phase began Tuesday before the jury in Judge Alfred Bell’s courtroom.
The jury will hear arguments and additional evidence before choosing between the death penalty and life imprisonment for Murphy. Prosecutors said he killed his mother, 69-year-old Doris Murphy; his 43-year-old sister, Kris Murphy; and his aunt, 81-year-old Edith Tietge, because they disapproved of his relationship with a married woman.
Murphy was convicted of first-degree murder in all three killings Friday.