Suspected cop killer Eric Frein will reportedly get a legal team with decades of murder trial experience, including an attorney with extensive background in death penalty cases.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Pike County Public Defender’s Office confirmed on Monday that a judge appointed Robert Bernathy and Michael Weinstein to represent Frein, who was captured Thursday after a 48-day manhunt in the Poconos Mountains.
Weinstein said he met Monday with Frein in prison and was appointed at a rate of $178 per hour. He declined to elaborate, the newspaper reports. Bernathy did not return a call seeking comment.
Frein, 31, qualifies for two court-appointed attorneys because he would face the death penalty if convicted of killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass on Sept. 12.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 12. The odds of a trial in Pike County, however, could be slim, according to one local attorney.
Finding impartial jurors from a potential pool of roughly 60,000 residents could prove difficult, said Thomas Mincer, a former assistant public defender and defense attorney in the county.
Mincer said he expects the trial to be moved to another county and that any county will likely have to ask for state assistance.
“Any way you look at it, it’s going to end up costing Pike County at least $50,000,” he told the newspaper. “It’s going to be a real budget-buster.”
