7/19/16
by News Department on 07/19/16Frein to stand trial...
The man responsible for the September 2014 ambush at the Blooming Grove state police barracks, where Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II died and Trooper Alex Douglass was wounded will go to trial in eight months.
A Pike County Judge placed 33-year-old Eric Frein on the March 2017 trial term of court, but has not yet set a specific date for jury selection.
Also in the order, the judge approved a previously reached agreement between Frein’s defense team and county District Attorney Ray Tonkin to have an out-of-county jury hear the case.
In approving an outside jury, the court settled one of the larger pre-trial motions in the case. Still looming are a defense motion to suppress statements Mr. Frein made immediately after his arrest and the prosecution’s motion to preclude Frein’s attorneys from using an insanity defense.
With the death penalty at stake, the case against Frein has been moving through the courts since his October 2014, arrest that came after a 48 day manhunt.
