Prosecutors to seek death penalty against man accused of killing Uber driver in Monroeville

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office filed notice Thursday that it will seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing an Uber driver after she picked him up for a fare.

Calvin Crew, 23, of Pitcairn, is accused of shooting Christi Spicuzza, 38, in a wooded area off Rosecrest Drive in Monroeville about 75 minutes after she picked him up on the night of Feb. 10.

In the minutes leading up to the shooting, video recorded by Spicuzza’s dashboard camera showed her asking Crew repeatedly, “Why are you doing this?”

That man, who police later identified as Crew, held a gun to Spicuzza’s head with one hand and held her ponytail in the other, demanding that the mother of four from Turtle Creek keep driving.

The video ended at 9:34 p.m., with the man reaching forward and yanking the camera off the dashboard.

Spicuzza’s car was found on Fourth Avenue in Pitcairn on the morning of Feb. 12. About four hours later, her body was found by a delivery driver in the area.

The dashboard camera was found along a Penn Hills street, and her cellphone was recovered below the Triboro Expressway.

In the notice it filed, the DA’s office cited two aggravating factors supporting its decision to seek the death penalty. It said the killing occurred during the perpetration of an alleged felony — in this case, robbery — and that Crew has a significant history of committing felonies involving the use or threat of violence.

Although Crew has not been convicted of any felonies in the past, if a jury finds him guilty of the ones charged in the Spicuzza case, those charges would apply as a possible aggravating factor for the death penalty thereby giving him a history of felony convictions involving the use of threat or violence.

To obtain a death sentence, the prosecution must prove at least one aggravating factor and convince the jury that it outweighs any mitigating evidence presented by the defendant, which could include medical or mental health history, a traumatic childhood and other life circumstances.

The DA’s office also filed notice on April 14 indicating that it planned to seek the death penalty against DeAngelo Savion Zieglar, who is accused of killing Rachel Dowden on Jan. 19 at a Bellevue bus stop.

Police said Dowden, 28, had previously been in a relationship with Zieglar and had a history of being abused by him. She obtained a protection-from-abuse order that was to remain in effect for three years and also legally bought a handgun for protection. Police said Zieglar took the gun from Dowden several days before the killing and then used it to kill her near the intersection of Lincoln and Sheridan avenues.

Prosecutors listed five aggravating factors in that case, including that Zieglar, 25, killed Dowden during the perpetration of another felony (illegal gun possession), she witnessed another crime committed by Zieglar and he was the subject of a court order protecting Dowden from him. Zieglar has previously been convicted of gun charges and robbery.

The DA’s office also filed notice earlier this month that it would seek the death penalty against Isaac Christopher Smith, 26, who is charged with killing Karli Short, 26, and her unborn baby on Sept. 13 in a McKeesport alley.

In addition to those three cases, there are four other capital prosecutions pending in Allegheny County.

No one in Pennsylvania has been executed since 1999, and there have been only three people put to death since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978.

The most recent person sentenced to death in Allegheny County was Richard Poplawski, who killed three Pittsburgh police officers in 2009.

Gov. Tom Wolf issued a moratorium on capital punishment in Pennsylvania in 2015. A report issued three years later called into question how the state handles the death penalty, but it did not call for a repeal of the death penalty.