5 day forecast
Konias trial scheduled to start in January
Share with others:
The trial for the Dravosburg armored car guard charged with killing his partner and stealing $2.3 million is slated to start in January before Common Pleas Judge David Cashman, the Allegheny County district attorney's office said Thursday.
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said last week that he will not pursue the death penalty against Kenneth Konias Jr., 22, who Pittsburgh police say killed his partner, Michael Haines, 31, on Feb. 28 in the back of the armored truck the two operated together for Garda Cash Logistics. Mr. Konias then took the cash from the back of the vehicle and disappeared for 55 days before authorities discovered him in a rundown boarding house in Pompano Beach, Fla., where, he told police, he spent copiously on prostitutes and drugs.
Fellow Garda employees discovered Mr. Haines' body in the back of the truck, which had been idling under the 31st Street Bridge in the Strip District.
Mr. Konias told FBI agents who questioned him after his arrest that he shot Mr. Haines, of East McKeesport, in self-defense after he pointed gun at him, an account prosecutors dispute. Mr. Haines suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head, and evidence inside the armored truck showed no sign of the struggle Mr. Konias described in his confession, police have said.
A pretrial conference in the case has been scheduled for Dec. 4.
First Published July 20, 2012 12:00 am
