Supreme Court: Trial judge cannot block prosecutor's request for death penalty in Bellevue murder case

The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a now-retired Allegheny County Common Pleas judge did not have the authority to prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

The Court of Appeals has remanded the criminal case against Deangelo Zieglar to the trial court for prosecution as a capital crime, finding that Judge Anthony M. Mariani “usurped” the prosecutor's authority in his decision last year.

“As our review shows, the court acted outside the legal requirements,” the court wrote in its 24-page opinion.

Mariani retired in March. He said he expected the decision to be appealed to the state Supreme Court but declined further comment.

The public defender's office representing Zieglar is reviewing the report.

The case has not yet been assigned to a new trial judge.

Zieglar, 28, is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend Rachel Dowden in Bellevue on January 19, 2022.

Two months earlier, she had obtained a temporary injunction against Zieglar.

In its death penalty ruling, the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office cited five aggravating circumstances, including that Zieglar had a PFA and was previously convicted of robbery and weapons possession.

However, when the case went to trial and the parties submitted their proposed questions for jury selection, Mariani said he would not allow questions about the death penalty to be presented to potential jurors.

In a 10-page report, Mariani pointed to Pennsylvania's years-long moratorium on the death penalty – first introduced by former Governor Tom Wolf and then extended by current Governor Josh Shapiro.

Forcing jurors to endure the “grueling and intrusive process” of jury selection in a capital crime is “manifestly unfair,” the judge wrote, especially when there is no chance that the death penalty will be carried out.

Criminal law experts said Mariani had no authority to take such a measure, and prosecutors appealed.

The state Supreme Court concluded that neither previous court rulings nor state law authorized Mariani to prohibit the death penalty in Zieglar's case.

The court explained that it was at the prosecutor's discretion to impose the death penalty. As long as the prosecutor followed the procedure prescribed by law – which included proving at least one aggravating circumstance – the court had no say.

“This court has made clear that it is a matter for the prosecutor's discretion, not the court's,” the high court said. “In fact, our Supreme Court has held that … the jury is the sole fact-finding authority and arbitrator in a capital crime.”