Prosecutor Startles Courtroom by Slamming Bat That Killed Boy

A prosecutor summing up his case against six young murder defendants startled a courtroom by slamming the baseball bat that had smashed the 16-year-old victim’s skull onto boxes of evidence files.

A spectator screamed. One of the jurors began to cry.

The mother of victim Eddie Polec was among several in the courtroom who jumped when prosecutor Joseph Casey used the bat to replicate the violence against Eddie, who was chased down by a mob of teenagers and killed outside a church where he had once served as an altar boy.

“What kind of people would do that?” Casey shouted and pointed to the six young men charged with first-degree murder. “Them!”

The defense said there was no intent to kill and charged a star prosecution witness lied to get a lenient plea bargain.

Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan instructed the sequestered jury on Wednesday morning, and jurors began deliberations before noon.

Polec died after the Nov. 11, 1994, gang beating which followed a fight between teenagers from the city’s Fox Chase section and suburban teenagers from the Abington area.

Dewan Alexander, 18; Thomas Crook, 19; Carlo Johnson, 20; Bou Khathavong, 18; Anthony Rienzi, 18; and Nick Pinero, 18, are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy. Jurors could convict them of lesser charges. They face up to life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.