Jury finds two guilty of cop killing; defendants await decision on death penalty

THOUGH NEITHER of the two defendants fatally shot Philadelphia police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski following a bank robbery, the jury cut them no slack yesterday.

On the third day of deliberating, Eric Deshann Floyd and Levon T. Warner were found guilty of first-degree murder and multiple counts of robbery, conspiracy and weapon offenses.

Police caught up to gunman Howard Cain and fatally shot him 18 times shortly after he murdered Licz- binski on May 3, 2008.

"I look forward to the day that those two gentlemen once again hook up with Howard Cain in hell," Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said after leaving the courtroom.

That could happen.

When the trial's penalty phase begins Monday, the prosecution will tell the seven men and five women on the jury why the defendants should be executed by injection, and the defense will argue why they should spend the rest of their lives in jail.

The penalty phase may take another week, Common Pleas Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes told the jurors, whom she thanked for serving since the trial began June 29.

As the jury forewoman announced the verdict at 1:30 p.m., Warner's wife, Denise Monroe, began to sob loudly, prompting a deputy sheriff to ask her to leave the courtroom.

Michelle Liczbinski, the sergeant's widow, listened quietly while seated with Ramsey to her left and her three children to her right.

Court employees brought extra chairs into the courtroom to accommodate an audience that exceeded the room's 171-person capacity. Dozens of police officers were present, as was District Attorney Seth Williams.

Williams told reporters the message of the verdict is: "Don't shoot police; don't rob banks; don't conspire with other people to do things that are illegal."

Floyd, 35, and Warner, 41, helped Cain rob a Port Richmond Bank of America branch of $38,100. They fled in a Jeep stolen the day before. Liczbinski, 39, answering the report of the robbery, followed the trio.

Unable to shake the 12-year veteran, driver Floyd shouted, "Bang him!" and Cain, 34, asked for an assault rifle. Back-seat passenger Warner handed it to him, and Floyd stopped the Jeep, according to trial evidence.

Cain got out, shot Liczbinski eight times and got back in. Floyd floored it.

Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy argued that what went on inside the Jeep was evidence of the defendants' shared intent to kill, which made them just as guilty as Cain.

"I'm hoping for the death penalty, but it's up to the jury," Ramsey said. "But my personal opinion is they should die."

After the verdict was read, Michelle Liczbinski and her family sighed in relief and shed tears, he said.

"This loss is just unimaginable. I have no idea what they could possibly be thinking, feeling," Ramsey said of the family. "All I can say is we will always be there to support them, no matter what."

The Liczbinski family and the defendants' families declined to be interviewed.

The defense attorneys - who, with Conroy, were placed under a gag order by Hughes - tried to convince the jury that their clients conspired only to rob the bank and had no part in the killing.

Warner's attorney, W. Fred Harrison Jr., told the jury that the former boxer was too dumb to conspire to kill anyone.

He and co-counsel Gary Server will expound on that defense in the penalty phase by calling expert witnesses to testify about Warner's alleged brain damage.

Among those who may be called on Floyd's behalf are William Russell, a forensic psychologist; Robert Patrick Johnson, a penologist; and Melissa Lang, a mitigation specialist.

Floyd, barred from the courtroom for much of the trial for attacking one of his attorneys during jury selection, was not present when the verdict was read.

Defense attorney Earl Kauffman stood for him.