A judge Thursday sentenced a Pittsburgh man to 20 to 40 years in prison for killing an off-duty Oakdale police officer during a road-rage incident.
Kevin McSwiggen, 42, of the city’s Greenfield neighborhood was convicted in July by a jury of third-degree murder in the July 3, 2022, shooting death of Charles “Chuckie” Stipetich.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos closed a three-hour sentencing hearing by recapping, step by step, the sequence of events that led to Stipetich’s murder.
McSwiggen shot and killed the 23-year-old rookie after following him for more than a mile after he said Stipetich cut him off on Route 28.
The move “did not impede” McSwiggen’s driving, Rangos said. But McSwiggen’s own dashboard-camera video captured his anger.
Stipetich drove to his home on Fountain Street in Blawnox. As he got out of his vehicle, he was confronted by McSwiggen, who was armed with a gun and a knife.
The two men argued until the officer’s father, Charles Stipetich Sr., got between the two men.
Prosecutors said McSwiggen shot Stipetich, who returned fire, injuring the defendant.
“Mr. McSwiggen was unreasonably agitated over a traffic violation that did not even inconvenience him, no less put him in danger,” Rangos said. “Given the unreasonable nature of the behavior, the level of agitation and anger that drove it and the tremendous impact it had … I will impose the statutory maximum of 240 to 480 months.”
“It’s a terrible case for all of us,” she added. “It could have been prevented, but for Mr. McSwiggen’s irrational decision to pursue Mr. Stipetich.”
McSwiggen also was sentenced to six to 12 months for reckless endangerment for pointing his gun at the elder Stipetich.
“It took two years but justice was served,” the victim’s father told reporters in the Allegheny County Courthouse.
“The world is not ever going to be a better place without my son,” added the victim’s mother, Deena Stipetich.
Before the sentence was handed down, McSwiggen stood in a yellow jail jumpsuit at the front of the courtroom, shackled at the wrists and ankles, and apologized to the Stipetich family.
He did not mention his victim’s name.
McSwiggen also launched a full-throated defense, railing against prosecutors and questioning witness testimony and the evidence against him.
“I am sorry that a person so young has lost his life — I feel for the family, I feel for my family,” McSwiggen said. “That night should’ve never happened. I shouldn’t have had to defend myself against two attackers.”
“I will fight for my rights,” he added.
Rangos was supposed to sentence McSwiggen in October, but he disrupted the proceeding by engaging in courtroom antics that included firing his lawyer and arguing with the judge.
A ‘sweet boy’
On Thursday, several witnesses talked about life without “Chuckie.”
A woman with autism recalled how Stipetich defended her against high-school bullies. The two, who met 19 years ago in first grade, danced together at their senior prom.
“I felt like Cinderella,” friend Cate West said. “Chuckie was a sweet boy. He didn’t deserve to die.”
Matthew Monica, a Marine who appeared in court in formal military dress, detailed Stipetich’s generosity and protectiveness of the men with whom he served in Japan, Korea, Norway and elsewhere.
After Monica called McSwiggen a “wicked, vile offender,” the two locked eyes as the Marine returned to his seat.
As friends and relatives of Stipetich talked, McSwiggen looked forward or, occasionally, down at documents his attorney was holding.
Cousin Patrick Hansen talked about the trauma of telling his grandmother that Stipetich had been killed.
“It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do — and I relive it every day,” Hansen said.
Isabella Stipetich called her late brother “another father figure.”
“When Chuckie was home, I felt like my home was the safest place in the world,” she said.
One friend of the family, a longtime lawyer, told Rangos that Thursday was his toughest day in court. A fellow police officer wept.
“I lost the first child to call me Mom,” Deena Stipetich said. “Your honor, I respect you. I appreciate all you do. I’m just asking you to understand the place I’m in.”
McSwiggen’s family speaks
Four people testified to McSwiggen’s character.
Linda Ricketts, McSwiggen’s aunt, called him “a loving father.” She talked about how he changed after his biological parents separated when he was 4 years old.
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His father said McSwiggen was mischievous as a boy.
“But he was never mean or malicious or anything like that,” Paul McSwiggen said.
McSwiggen’s sister, Sarelle, wept as she read a letter from McSwiggen’s 14-year-old son, Nathan. She now has custody of the teen.
As she read, McSwiggen wept, sometimes red-faced and wiping tears from his eyes with his jumpsuit.
“I don’t know what a character letter is,” the teen wrote. “I respect and look up to (McSwiggen) even though he is not perfect. It will be hard not having him around as my Dad.”
‘Too horrific’
Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Lisa Carey ended the prosecution’s comments by talking about body-camera footage recorded by the first police officer to arrive on the scene the night of the shooting.
She called it “the most horrific video evidence I’ve ever viewed.”
In the video, an officer arrived and immediately rushed to begin CPR on Stipetich.
He brought him back for a minute — but couldn’t hold onto him.
“You can see the life leave this young man,” Carey told the judge. “We couldn’t show the jury what this defendant did to Chuckie because it was too horrific for them to view.”