First full day of deliberations to begin in Liczbinski killing trial

A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury begins its first full day of deliberations Tuesday in the trial of two men charged with murder in the 2008 killing of Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.

The jurors - seven men and five women - deliberated about three hours Monday after receiving instructions from Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes on the law involving homicide, conspiracy and robbery. At 4:30 p.m., they asked to go home for the day, with no questions for Hughes.

Eric DeShann Floyd, 35, of North Philadelphia, and Levon T. Warner, 41, of West Philadelphia, could be given the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder.

They are charged with being part of a three-man team that robbed a Port Richmond bank branch on May 3, 2008. Liczbinski, 39, a 12-year police veteran, pursued the robbers' fleeing car and was shot and killed when the suspects could not shake him.

During the trial, defense attorneys conceded Floyd's and Warner's involvement in the robbery and chase that ended with Liczbinski's shooting.

That leaves the question of the degree of homicide: first, a premeditated malicious killing; second, a killing that occurs during another serious felony; or third, an unintended killing during an assault on another person.

If the jury finds one or both men guilty of first-degree murder, prosecution and defense attorneys would then present evidence about aggravating or mitigating factors.

Jurors would weigh those factors in deciding whether Floyd and Warner should be executed by lethal injection or serve life in prison with no chance of parole.

Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life prison term, and third-degree murder 20 to 40 years.

Attorneys for Floyd and Warner argued that neither should be convicted of first-degree murder because they did not shoot Liczbinski. Howard Cain, 33, mastermind of the bank robbery, shot the officer and was himself killed by police the same day, after the trio split up.

Prosecutor Jude Conroy contended that, under conspiracy law, Floyd and Warner are as culpable as Cain in Liczbinski's death.