PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia jury on Wednesday convicted a suburban man for killing a Temple University police officer who had chased him down as a suspect in a series of carjackings.
That Miles Pfeffer killed Officer Christopher Fitzgerald had not been in dispute. The murder trial largely centered on whether the February 2023 shooting death was intentional.
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After less than a half-hour of deliberations, jurors found him guilty of murder of a law enforcement officer, robbery and gun crimes, prosecutors said. He was then sentenced to life without parole, plus decades for robbery.
Assistant District Attorney Bob Wainwright, who prosecuted the case, called Fitzgerald “the kind of police officer that we want in our city. And when you murder a police officer, yes, there is kind of significance to the importance of that kind of a case. Because our society depends on the police to function.”
Lawyers for Pfeffer, who was arrested hours later on his mother's sprawling 18th century Bucks County farm property in upscale Buckingham, said he was a frightened 18-year-old who panicked that night. Pfeffer is now 20 years old.
Prosecutors told jurors in opening statements that Fitzgerald gave chase after spotting Pfeffer, his brother and a friend dressed in black and wearing masks in an area where there had been a series of robberies and carjackings. Two of the teenagers hid. Fitzgerald caught up with Pfeffer and ordered him to the ground, leading to a struggle, authorities said.
Pfeffer then pulled out a gun and shot Fitzgerald six times, sometimes at point-blank range, prosecutors said. A security camera video played in court for jurors showed some of the chase and shooting. Pfeffer's brother testified against him at trial.
Wainwright said prosecutors believed they had a strong case, crediting investigators for getting witness statements and collecting Pfeffer’s DNA from a carjacked vehicle.
“Here we had six gunshots, all the vital parts of the human body, all at close range and all caught on video in a way that showed just kind of the viciousness of it,” Wainwright told reporters after court was adjourned.
Fitzgerald, 31, was married and a father of four children.
Assistant Defender Susan Ricci said in openings that Pfeffer's actions had not been premeditated.
But Assistant District Attorney Lauren Crump said the video of Pfeffer standing over the officer and shooting proved his intent.
District Attorney Larry Krasner opposes the death penalty and did not pursue it in this case, despite calls for capital punishment from Fitzgerald’s father, a former city officer who now runs the Denver transit police, and the Temple University Police Association, which called Krasner's decision “devastating.”