Antwon Rose Shooting: Lawyer Representing Family Talks To Reporters

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Testimony will resume Wednesday morning for the trial of former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld.

He's currently charged with killing Antwon Rose II during a traffic stop last summer.

Both the prosecution and defense attorneys gave their opening statements on Tuesday, and an Allegheny County Police Detective and two witnesses were among those who testified.

Jurors also saw the cell phone video of Rosfeld shooting Rose and the surveillance video of the drive-by shooting that happened earlier in North Braddock.

The lawyer representing the family of Rose - surrounded by the teenager's family members, including his mother - talked to reporters after the first day of testimony wrapped up late Monday afternoon.

S. Lee Merritt told reporters in a hallway in the Allegheny County Courthouse, "Antwon Rose has been called a suspect, a criminal, a body, a victim, an accomplice, a corpse. Under the law, he was a child, he hasn't been called that, he was a minor; he hasn't been called that."

Merritt said the jury did not get to hear about the "humanity" of Rose during the opening day of Rosfeld's trial.

Merritt held back any direct criticism of the way prosecutors have proceeded. He explained "we are encouraged that prosecutors will continue to pursue facts in this case, they are putting them out methodically, but, what we most want to see is that Rose is introduced to this jury, as if his life mattered."