Appeal denied for mother of man convicted in New Ken cop killing

An appeal was denied Thursday for the mother of a man on death row in the fatal shooting of a New Kensington police officer.

The 2020 conviction of Sherry Holt, 51, of Pittsburgh on a hindering apprehension charge was upheld in state Superior Court.

She is the mother of Rahmael Holt, 33, who was sentenced to death by lethal injection in the November 2017 death of Officer Brian Shaw after an attempted traffic stop.

He was arrested after a four-day manhunt.

Sherry Holt was convicted by an Allegheny County judge after a nonjury trial during which three investigators testified. Authorities said she lied about whether she talked to or saw her son at her home the night of the shooting.

She was sentenced to one year on probation.

Holt argued in her appeal of the conviction that she provided conflicting answers to law enforcement during the manhunt but that did not hinder their attempts to locate him, according to court filings.

“Here, (Holt’s) intent to delay or interfere with her son’s apprehension can be readily inferred from her conduct,” Judge Megan McCarthy King wrote in an opinion.

Shaw tried to pull over a car in which Rahmael Holt was a passenger about 8 p.m. Nov. 17, 2017. Holt fled from the car and a foot chase ensued before Holt opened fire on Shaw.

Sherry Holt and others were arrested for failing to provide information to police on Rahmael Holt’s whereabouts during the manhunt.