PA shooter pleads not guilty
By Nathan Mayberg
MILFORD — Eric Frein pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges he shot two state troopers in an ambush outside their Blooming Grove barracks on Sept. 12.
Frein was formally arraigned with legal counsel for the first time since his Oct. 30 arrest. Since that time, he has been preliminarily arraigned without legal representation and has appeared at a preliminary hearing with court appointed lawyers.
Frein appeared at the hearing through a video link from the Pike County Correctional Facility before Court of Common Pleas Judge Gregory Chelak. Frein had court appointed attorney William Ruzzo by his side. His other attorney, Michael Weinstein was in court with District Attorney Ray Tonkin.
On Tuesday, Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin officially asked for the death penalty against Eric Frein.
Tonkin submitted a notice to the Pike County Court of Common Pleas that will allow him to seek the death penalty.
Weinstein said he was not surprised by Tonkin's decision to seek the death penalty. Tonkin had announced his intention early on.
"We expected it," Weinstein said. "It's his choice."
Terrorism plot alleged
Frein is accused of murdering Corporal Bryon Dickson and critically wounding Trooper Alex Douglass in the ambush as part of a terrorism plot.
He is also alleged to have been in possession of improvised explosive devices, which were found in the woods where police searched in the area of Canadensis, his hometown.
Frein was ultimately captured by U.S. Marshalls at the Birchwood-Pocono Airpark in Tannersville on Oct. 30 after a 48-day manhunt.
His family's lawyer, James Swetz, had reportedly attempted to represent Frein but was unable to make contact with him at the state police barracks in Blooming Grove, where Frein was initially booked.
A preliminary conference scheduled in December was delayed after one of Frein's court-appointed attorneys, Chief Public Defender Robert Abernathy, recused himself for unspecified conflicts of interest and his duties as the county's public defender.
At a Jan. 5. preliminary conference in front of Judge Shannon Muir, Tonkin presented evidence such as video footage of the shooting, letters allegedly written by Frein detailing his intent to spark a revolution trough the shootings, pictures of weapons found in the airport hangar and testimony from state troopers, an ATF agent, and a U.S. Marshall about the hunt for Frein and his ultimate capture.
Weinstein, a former Pike County District Attorney, said it was not unusual to have the formal arraignment and plea at this stage of the process.
A trial is not expected to begin for months.
Reporter Nathan Mayberg may be reached at comm.reporter@strausnews.com or by calling 845-469-9000 ext. 359.