Overview

• Miles Pfeffer is charged with first-degree murder, killing a law enforcement officer and weapons violations that carry a mandatory life sentence after the district attorney’s office declined to seek the death penalty, a decision criticized by Fitzgerald’s family.
• Prosecutors told jurors that Pfeffer shot Officer Christopher Fitzgerald six times in the face and chest at close range after a foot chase and plan to present video of the shooting alongside bodycam recordings.
• Defense attorneys argued that Pfeffer panicked when chased by Fitzgerald as an 18-year-old and lacked the specific intent required for a first-degree murder conviction.
• Christopher Fitzgerald had served as a Temple University police officer since 2021 and was a father of four when he was fatally shot near 18th Street and Montgomery Avenue in February 2023.
• Presided over by Judge Glenn B. Bronson, the trial is expected to last several days and will include testimony from crime scene officers, Pfeffer’s companions and the man he allegedly carjacked.