Pennsylvania

Man Sentenced to Death in Rookie Pa. Police Officer's Murder

Rahmael Sal Holt shot and killed New Kensington officer Brian Shaw in November 2017

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NBC

A man has been sentenced to death in the shooting death of a Pennsylvania police officer.

A judge formally imposed the sentence on Rahmael Sal Holt, 31, of Harrison, during a hearing Wednesday. Holt also was given two consecutive sentences for weapons charges that require him to serve 10 1/2 to 27 years in prison.

Holt declined to speak during the hearing. He was convicted last November of first-degree murder in the November 2017 slaying of New Kensington officer Brian Shaw. Two days later, the jury unanimously recommended that he get a death sentence.

Prosecutors have said Holt was an armed drug dealer who had planned to rob the driver of an SUV that Shaw attempted to stop in Old Kensington in Westmoreland County on the night of the shooting. Holt has maintained that he wasn't the person who fired.

Shaw was on the force for less than a year.

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