33-year-old Ray Shetler Jr. was in Westmoreland County Court for a status conference yesterday, almost two years after he shot and killed St. Clair Township police officer Lloyd Reed Jr. Shetler is charged with first degree murder and third degree murder.
Reed was killed November 28th, 2015 in a confrontation outside the New Florence home of Shetler’s girlfriend, Kristen Luther. He’d been summoned there on a domestic violence call, and was met at the door of the home by Shetler, who was armed with a .271-caliber rifle.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin on January 8th, and Judge Megan Bilik-DeFazio says the trial will take about two weeks. District Attorney John Peck is seeking the death penalty on a conviction of first degree murder. Defense attorney Mark Daffner contends it could not have been murder in the first degree, because he says Reed fired first. Daffner claims Reed got off six shots, hitting his client once before Shetler returned fire.
Shetler’s trial has been scheduled and postponed six times, most recently on October 2nd.
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