The men who pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Scranton Police Det. Kyle Gilmartin each was sentenced to decades in prison.
State Sen. Lisa Baker couldn't believe that Aiden Deininger and Jeremiah Cleveland could have received as little as seven years' time for the 2024 ambush.
"I was stunned," Baker (R-Luzerne) said.
She was inspired by conversations with Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher, a Democrat, to propose legislation that would increase penalties for people who attempt to murder law enforcement officers.
Baker's Senate Bill 1284 was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week for consideration by the full Senate.
It would impose a mandatory minimum of 20 years for attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit murder of a law enforcement officer resulting in serious bodily injury, and increases the statutory maximum from 40 years to up to life in prison.
"The bottom end of the range of someone's sentence could be between seven and 11 years," Gallagher said. "The penalty of the crime should be commensurate with the intent."
The shooting and the court case
Three SPD investigators were on the streets in the early hours of Jan. 11, 2024, working against time as Cleveland posted live footage of himself and Deininger driving around the city.
As previously reported by WVIA:
Cleveland fired gunshots into two homes and threatened suspected rival gang members.
In West Scranton, Gilmartin, now-Deputy Chief Joseph Lafferty and now-Det. Jason Hyler, in an unmarked police car, spotted Deininger wearing a red coat and red shoes, which matched a description of him police obtained earlier.
Lafferty testified during a June 2024 preliminary hearing that he aimed the car and shined its high beams at Deininger, who pulled out his mother’s gun and fired five times into the car.
Two bullets struck Gilmartin in the head. Lafferty jumped out of the car, rolled to the ground and fired, hitting Deininger three times.
Gilmartin, who has said "God was looking out for me that night," had part of his skull removed and lives with a bullet that remains lodged in his head. Wife Lindsay Gilmartin has spoken of watching her husband have to relearn how to stand, how to eat and how to dress himself.
Last fall, the suspects appeared in Lackawanna County Court to admit their guilt.
Deininger was charged with shooting and wounding Gilmartin, shooting at two other officers and firing into an occupied home.
He pleaded guilty to all of the more than two dozen counts against him, including attempted murder of a police officer, attempted murder and aggravated assault.
Cleveland was charged with shooting into an occupied home and counts related to Gilmartin’s shooting, but not shooting the officer.
He pleaded guilty to five of six counts, including aggravated assault.
Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse handed down their sentences in February.
Barrasse sentenced Deininger to 25 to 83 years in prison. He gave Cleveland 20 to 43 years in prison.
Pa. sentencing law in focus
Those sentences were substantially above what the defendants could have received, but Gallagher still feels the law falls short.
"Listen, ultimately [we] put on as much evidence as we can to try to get the best sentence we can. I think we did that," he said.
"But ultimately, [Gilmartin] would have had to die for us to get a life sentence," the DA said.
He believes that is wrong. Baker agrees.
She pointed to what she sees as a sentencing disparity between attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and assault of a law enforcement officer:
- Both crimes carry a potential maximum sentence of up to 40 years of incarceration.
- Only the assault of a law enforcement officer carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years.
- With no mandatory minimum on the books for attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, judges must impose a sentence based on Pennsylvania’s sentencing guidelines, which recommend a sentence as low as seven years.
"Attempting to kill a law enforcement officer is serious, and the penalty should match it," Baker said.
State Sen. Rosemary Brown co-sponsored the bill.
“The passage of this legislation moves us closer to ensuring our laws properly reflect the seriousness of violent acts against law enforcement. This legislation closes a gap in sentencing and helps ensure those who attempt to take an officer’s life are held fully accountable,” Brown said in a statement released this week.
Senate Bill 1284 comes to the fore as the state's sentencing laws have been in focus in other cases.
As the Associated Press reported, Pennsylvania’s high court in March overturned the use of automatic life sentences without parole for people convicted of second-degree murder, saying it violates the state’s constitutional ban on cruel punishment when imposed without a closer look at the defendant’s specific role and culpability.
That decision, which dealt with a 2014 Pittsburgh homicide case, comes after years of advocacy to undo mandatory life without parole sentences both in Pennsylvania and nationally, the AP reported.
But it "also has implications for others among the roughly 1,000 other inmates currently serving similar second-degree murder sentences."
The court's ruling gave the General Assembly 120 days to come up with a legislative remedy. Delays in passing a proposed law have come under fire, including from the Philadelphia District Attorney's office this week.
Gallagher acknowledged more generally that there has been opposition to mandatory minimum sentences from some in the legislature as well as the courts.
"And I think there's value in some of that, right? In getting rid of some of the mandatory minimums that really just didn't make sense, like the school zone and things like that," Gallagher said.
As WHYY reported in 2016, a series of court rulings "undercut state mandatories," including a 2015 ruling that nullified Pennsylvania’s mandatory two-year prison term for selling drugs near a school zone.
Gallagher sees the new proposal in a different light.
"This is about someone's intent; it's very specific. It's not if a police officer gets hurt. If you attempt to murder a police officer and that police officer survives .and has serious bodily injury, it's 20 years," Gallagher said. "That's fair."
Next steps
Will state lawmakers agree?
So far, only Republicans have signed on to co-sponsor Baker's bill.
Gallagher said he spoke to state Sen. Marty Flynn (D-Lackawanna), who he said called it "a no-brainer."
"I think there should be somewhat of an appetite to get this done. You know, protecting our law enforcement, especially in situations like that, is always of utmost importance," Flynn told WVIA News. "And in this case, it seems like it definitely would be a deterrent."
Republicans hold a 27-23 majority in the Senate.
"I believe the Senate will take swift action," Baker said. "I'm hoping that when we return in early May, that it is one of the first orders of business for us."
Democrats hold a 102-99 majority in the House with two pending vacancies.
Gallagher said he has not yet spoken with any area House members about the proposal.
"But you know what? What I want to stress is this: This shouldn't be a partisan issue," Gallagher said.
"This is about public safety in showing the respect and admiration for people who put their life on the line for us," he said. "We should never be in a position where the only time we're showing respect or admiration is when we're at a funeral or standing at a hospital bedside."
Flynn acknowledged that there could be some opposition.
"Different groups, civil rights groups, would probably have a problem with the bill because they never like to see increased mandatory minimums," the senator said.
Flynn suggested any change in the law would potentially be tempered by the latitude given to judges in sentencing defendants.
"But, yeah, someone like [those who] that did that to officer Gilmartin should be facing at least 20 years," Flynn said, calling the idea of a seven-year sentence "unacceptable."
Outside the legislature, Baker said she has met with members of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, the Fraternal Order of Police and other law enforcement groups, "and all very much believe that we need to close the gap."
She also met with one of the detectives who was in the car with Gilmartin the night of the shooting.
"He related his issue about the potential [of having] an attempted murderer come up to his family were that individual released onto the street. That was something that was deeply disturbing," Baker said.
"The current law didn't make any sense to me when the DA brought it to me, but hearing that personal story drove it home even more," she said.
