Oct 1, 2013 2 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A former university professor who faced a possible third trial on charges that he shot at two western Pennsylvania police officers more than a decade ago has pleaded guilty to attempted homicide.

Edward Constant II, 70, was sentenced Monday in Allegheny County Court to 11 to 25 years in prison. Because he has already served 11 years in prison, he will be eligible for parole immediately.

Authorities said the former Carnegie Mellon University history professor shot a Mount Lebanon patrolman in his bulletproof vest and fired at another officer during a drunken domestic dispute with his wife in 2002.

Officer Daniel Rieg was shot in the chest by a .44-caliber revolver at point-blank range and was knocked over a porch railing onto the front lawn, but survived because of the vest. He sustained injuries to his neck, back, hips and shoulders and was off work for a year. Officer Jeffrey Kite was uninjured.

Neither attended Monday’s hearing.

Constant was convicted of attempted homicide and aggravated assault in 2004 and sentenced to 14½ to 29 years in prison, but the conviction was overturned due to improper communication between a judge’s staffer and the jury. Constant was reconvicted a year later and once again received the same sentence, but that conviction was thrown out after an appeals court said the trial judge erred by not letting his wife and family observe jury selection.

Constant apologized for his actions, calling them “a ghastly mistake and a horrid mistake.”

“I deeply regret it,” he said, “and I’m deeply remorseful for the pain and anxiety I caused Officer Rieg and Officer Kite and their families.”