Pittsburgh man involved in 2009 fatal shooting pleads guilty to weapons possession

A Pittsburgh man who admitted involvement in a 2009 slaying pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon.

Damone Porter, 34, previously of Pittsburgh’s Northview Heights neighborhood, has been detained since March, according to court records.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents reported in a criminal complaint that they were executing search warrant on three rooms at Hyatt Hotel on the North Shore on March 18 when, in one of the rooms, agents and Pittsburgh Police found Porter and a handgun that had been reported stolen.

Porter claimed ownership of cash that also was found in the room, according to the complaint.

Authorities said Porter was prohibited from having a firearm because of a past felony conviction.

He had been convicted by an Allegheny County jury of third-degree murder in the 2009 fatal shooting of Antoine Cooper, 21, in the city’s Perry Hilltop neighborhood, according to Tribune-Review archives. The case was remanded under the Post-Conviction Relief Act after several failed appeals, according to online court records.

Porter pleaded guilty in 2016 to third-degree murder and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 3-1/2 to 7-1/2 years in prison and 15 years of probation.

Sentencing in the federal case has been set for June 14. Porter faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, according to federal prosecutors.