The last time a White police officer was tried in Allegheny County for killing a Black suspect was 20 years ago. There was no Twitter, no Facebook and no video of Pittsburgh officer Jeffrey Cooperstein fatally shooting Deron Grimmitt as the car he was driving was coming into the view of the officer on Second Avenue.
That shooting occurred Dec. 21, 1998. Officer Cooperstein was eventually acquitted of homicide and aggravated assault after a jury deliberated for eight hours over a two-day period.
Fast forward to the present. There is video of former East Pittsburgh Officer Michael Rosfeld, who is White, fatally shooting Antwon Rose II, a 17-year-old Black male, as he ran away from a traffic stop in East Pittsburgh on June 19, 2018. As of New Pittsburgh Courier press deadline, March 19, the jury has yet to see it.
Don’t worry. They will see it. And who knows what they will think when it’s finally shown to them.
Who knows what the outcome of this trial, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Michael Rosfeld, will be.
What we do know is, the trial of the decade here in Pittsburgh is underway.
Rosfeld is facing a single count of criminal homicide, the charge levied on the former officer by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala, on June 27, eight days after the fatal shooting. Rosfeld shot Rose three times, the third shot in the back being the fatal shot.
Yesterday, March 19, was Day 1 of the trial, featuring opening statements and witnesses called by the prosecution and cross-examined by the defense. Today, and in the subsequent days, there will be even more witnesses called, more evidence presented. Judging by the hundreds of people—primarily African American—who attended the trial’s first day, there will be plenty of spectators filling Courtroom 323 (and Courtroom 313, designated for overflow media and spectators), watching and documenting this trial’s every moment.
As you follow the trial, remember that the 12-member jury was chosen from Dauphin County, in which Harrisburg is located. The jury, chosen last week, has six men and six women. There are three African Americans on the jury—one male, two female. There are three alternate jurors, all White males.
Also note that the jury will not hear testimony from Zaijuan Hester. Hester, who was in the car with Rose, pleaded guilty last week to doing the shooting during a drive-by in North Braddock just moments before the car was pulled over in nearby East Pittsburgh by Rosfeld.
The jury will be sequestered throughout the duration of the trial, which is expected to last up to two weeks.
The trial will also see a higher level of security. Before the jury had even been chosen, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich had issued a directive announcing traffic restrictions around the Allegheny County Courthouse that essentially cut it off from the rest of the city during trial sessions. But beyond those restrictions, he would not say what specific security protocols would be in place.
Michelle Kenney, the mother of Rose, publicly said before the trial that she did not want any protests to be held during the trial.
Brandi Fisher, executive director of the Alliance for Police Accountability, said there would be no actions during the trial from her end. “We’re not planning any actions,” she said. “We did most of our work getting him charged. It’s up to the jury now, and how strong the DA’s case is. We’re just supporting the family through the process and praying for the best.”
Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney Daniel Fitzsimmons will prosecute the case against Rosfeld, who is charged with criminal homicide. The jury could return a guilty verdict of first-degree or third-degree murder, or manslaughter.
Rosfeld is represented by Patrick Thomassey, who represented Brentwood police Lt. Milton Mulholland when he was charged in the 1995 death of motorist Jonny Gammage. Mulholland’s case ended in a mistrial; he was not retried.
Fitzsimmons, in his opening statement, reminded the jury that there’s no doubt Rosfeld is the person who fatally shot Rose. “Two different people took film, moving pictures of what happened in this particular case,” he said. One of the people who took the video from her cell phone, Fitzsimmons said, “captured the victim being shot three times in the back.”
The real concern is, “What Michael Rosfeld knew at the time when he pulled that trigger three times,” Fitzsimmons said to the jury. “What was on the mind when he pulled the trigger and killed another human being.”
Thomassey countered in his opening statement by saying that areas like East Pittsburgh and North Braddock are high-crime areas, and that “this is the type of area Michael Rosfeld has to patrol every day.”
Thomassey added that 144 police officers died in the line of duty in 2018, and Rosfeld did not wake up on the morning of June 19 looking to kill anyone. “He left his wife and went to work,” Thomassey said, noting that in a police officer’s line of work, “you hesitate, you die.”
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