By MENSAH M. DEAN
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — The wife and family of slain Philadelphia Police Officer John Pawlowski were dealt another round of pain yesterday when the jury deliberating the fate of his murderer sent word that it was deadlocked about whether he should get a life or death sentence.
The news caused Kimberly Pawlowski and others with her to break into tears outside the courtroom, while Annah Abdul Ghaffar, the mother of confessed cop-killer Rasheed Scrugs, shed tears inside the courtroom.
Shortly after 3 p.m., the Common Pleas jury entered the courtroom and its forewoman told Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes what had already leaked out.
“Your Honor, after intense deliberations, we cannot reach a unanimous decision,” the forewoman said.
Hughes then gave each juror a piece of paper to write what each thought the court could do to help facilitate further deliberations - which began Tuesday afternoon.
Hughes eventually decided that deliberations would resume on Monday morning.
In capital-punishment cases, state law mandates that defendants who are convicted of first-degree murder are to be sentenced by a unanimous jury to either death or to life in prison without parole.
If a jury can’t reach a unanimous decision, the law requires the trial judge to impose a life sentence. That happened in August at the conclusion of the trial for the two men convicted of murdering Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.
Scrugs, 35, pleaded guilty on Oct. 21 to murdering Pawlowski, triggering a two-week penalty hearing. He fatally shot the officer at Broad Street and Olney Avenue on Feb. 13, 2009.
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