By Joseph A. Slobodzian
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The assault rifle used to kill Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was powerful enough to wound him critically even after the bullet penetrated his patrol car door, a firearms expert testified Friday.
“It was not unusual at all for it to go through a car door,” Kenneth J. Lay, an expert in firearms identification and ballistics, said in referring to the Chinese-made SKS military assault rifle whose shots hit Liczbinski eight times.
“What about body armor?” asked Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy.
“It would go through body armor, both sides,” Lay replied.
Lay, firearms lab supervisor for the police forensics unit, said the SKS was designed for combat, to kill a soldier at 300 yards.
The trigger ignites powder that creates 45,000 pounds per square inch of pressure inside the cartridge casing, Lay said. The .30-caliber bullet exits the rifle barrel at 1,500 m.p.h.
Lay’s testimony about the strength of the firepower Liczbinski faced May 3, 2008, ended a third week of prosecution testimony in the Common Pleas Court trial of Eric DeShann Floyd, 35, of North Philadelphia, and Levon T. Warner, 41, of West Philadelphia.
Floyd and Warner are charged with murder in the death of Liczbinski, 39, a 12-year police veteran who was pursuing the two and their accomplice after a Port Richmond bank robbery.
The trial resumes Monday and the defense is expected to begin its case by midweek.
Howard Cain, 33, who fired on Liczbinski, was killed by police in a confrontation later that day after he and his accomplices split up.
Floyd and Warner will face the death penalty if the jury finds them guilty of first-degree murder. Conroy has said that under conspiracy law, both are as culpable as Cain in Liczbinski’s death.
Testimony has focused on how little time Liczbinski had to defend himself from Cain’s gunfire.
Liczbinski had been pursuing the Jeep Liberty used by the three bank robbers when the Jeep stopped at Almond and Schiller Streets in Port Richmond.
Witnesses testified that Cain, the robbery’s mastermind, jumped from the Jeep and strode toward Liczbinski’s patrol car, which was stopped behind the SUV.
Liczbinski was hit first as he was stepping out from his patrol car, and he fell to the street behind his open car door.
Another shot hit Liczbinski after going through the door, and Lay said Cain likely fired six or seven others through the open car-door window or by stepping around the door.
Liczbinski was hit eight times from a distance of about 31/2 feet, Lay said.
Lay catalogued 11 bullet fragments removed from Liczbinski’s body during autopsy. Although Liczbinski was not wearing body armor, Lay made clear that it would not have mattered.
The SKS rifle and aftermarket kits to modify it are readily available in the United States and through Internet sites, Lay said.
Cain’s SKS rifle had been rebuilt with a collapsible stock and its original 10-shot magazine replaced with a “banana clip,” which can hold 38 rounds, Lay said.
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