A man convicted in the death of an off-duty Pittsburgh police officer shot and killed in a street confrontation four years ago has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Christian Bey, 34, of Wilkinsburg was sentenced Monday in Allegheny County Court to the life term in the July 2019 shooting of 36-year-old Officer Calvin Hall.
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Hall died three days after he was shot following a dispute at a Homewood block party. Hall, who was off-duty at the time, was visiting friends on the street.
Bey also was sentenced Monday to an additional 8½ to 17 years in prison on firearms charges. Jurors deliberated for less than seven hours in April before convicting him of first-degree murder and the firearms counts. He declined to say anything on his own behalf before he was sentenced.
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Family members said in a statement read in court that it had been "four hard years since we lost our beloved Calvin," and they as well as fellow officers and the people he served "miss him dearly," the Tribune-Review reported.
"Every time he entered a room, you could feel his love and positive energy," they said.
Defense attorneys had asked in April that jurors be allowed to consider a verdict of voluntary manslaughter, which would include the possibility of self-defense or defense of others. The judge refused, saying no evidence of that had been presented. Defense attorney Carmen Robinson said after the verdict that she thought there would be issues to appeal.
