DA: Death Penalty Not Sought In Slaying At Backyard Picnic

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - Prosecutors say they won't be seeking the death penalty if a man is convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of his cousin at a backyard picnic in western Pennsylvania.

Twenty-eight-year-old Joshua Moss was formally arraigned Friday in Washington County in the April shooting death of 22-year-old Robert Kramer Jr. in Mount Pleasant Township.

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Public defender Glenn Alterio asked whether the district attorney's office had decided what degree of murder or manslaughter would be sought but was told that that decision hasn't yet been made.

Officials said defendant and victim lived on opposite sides of a duplex where a birthday celebration was going on, but they argued about who had a set of car keys. The coroner said Kramer was killed by a single gunshot wound from a shotgun.

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