PIKE COUNTY, Pa. — Eric Frein, who is on death row for killing one State Police trooper and severely wounding another in a 2014 shooting, has filed a petition in federal court asking for the appointment of an attorney to file a stay of execution, according to court documents.
Frein filed the petition because he believes the signing of his execution warrant is "imminent," according to the public defender who filed the petition for him, court documents say.
James Lawley, an assistant federal public defender, asked a judge to appoint the department's capital unit to represent Frein in his request for a stay, and in a future federal appeal of his sentence now that his appeals in state court have been exhausted, according to the petition.
Frein, 36, was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of State Police Cpl. Byron K. Dickson II outside the Blooming Grove State Police barracks in Pike County. Trooper Alex T. Douglass was also severely wounded in the attack.
After a manhunt that lasted 48 days, Frein was arrested after searchers found him in an abandoned airport hanger in the Poconos.
He was convicted in March 2017 and sentenced to death.
Frein tried unsuccessfully to appeal his conviction and death sentence in Pennsylvania Superior and Supreme courts. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of those decisions on Jan. 13.
According to state law, Pennsylvania must seek an execution warrant within 90 days of the final appeal. While the 2015 moratorium on the death penalty signed by Gov. Tom Wolf remains in effect, it does not prevent death warrants from being issued.
Defendants like Frein must petition for a stay of the warrant.
Frein's petition will be reviewed and ruled on by a federal judge at a later date.
