In mass shooting cases, stakes and emotions are high for prosecution and defense – By Paula Reed Ward (Triblive) / April 23 2023
William Difenderfer still remembers the day. It was a Friday. April 28, 2000.
A Mt. Lebanon man went on a killing spree, fatally shooting five people from Western Pennsylvania because of their race and religion.
Difenderfer, a well-known criminal defense attorney, lived in Mt. Lebanon. His children attended schools there. He remembers they were locked down that afternoon as police searched for the killer.
When Difenderfer headed to Tambellini’s on Route 51 for dinner that night with out-of-town friends, he guessed that he had a 25% chance of getting the alleged shooter as a client. By that point in his career, Difenderfer had represented a man accused of killing a 14-month-old with a stray bullet and a teen accused of killing a Pittsburgh police officer. Difenderfer’s performance in those cases — both clients were found not guilty of murder but convicted of a lesser manslaughter charge — and the confidence with which he carried himself made him a natural fit.
