Floyd, Warner convicted of first-degree murder in Liczbinski's killing

With defense attorneys conceding Floyd's and Warner's involvement in the robbery and chase that ended in Liczbinski's death, the jury was confronted with deciding the degree of homicide: first, a premeditated, malicious killing; second, a killing that occurs during another serious felony; or third, an unintended killing during an assault.

In questions for the judge Tuesday, the jurors seemed to have rejected the third degree, but were choosing between first and second.

Their decision appeared to have been swayed by the statements Floyd and Warner gave homicide detectives after their arrests.

In the statements - the jury asked Tuesday to hear them read aloud again - Floyd and Warner admitted their roles in the armed robbery of a bank inside a Port Richmond supermarket and their presence in the fleeing Jeep Liberty, stopped in front of Liczbinski's patrol car in the fatal encounter at Almond and Schiller Streets.

Warner's statement went further, saying the driver - Floyd - had been frustrated because he could not shake the pursuing Liczbinski.

Warner said that the driver had slowed the getaway car and told Cain, "Bang him," and that he then had handed the 35-shot SKS Chinese military assault rifle to Cain.

Cain jumped from the car, walked toward Liczbinski, and began shooting as the sergeant was getting out of the car. Liczbinski was hit at least eight times and died on the street beside his car.

Warner's statement became crucial because, as the judge instructed the jury, the conspiracy law holds all members of a conspiracy equally culpable for the acts of any one conspirator.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy said in his closing argument Friday.

In the defense's closing arguments, Kauffman and Harrison tried to undercut the credibility of Warner's and Floyd's confessions. Both argued that Cain had a volatile personality, and that his decision to kill Liczbinski had been spontaneous, without needing his accomplices' consent.

At Almond and Schiller Streets, there was relief among neighbors whose quiet Saturday in 2008 was transformed by the killing of a police officer - commemorated now by a bronze plaque.

Dicksy Widing, 64, one of the first on the scene that morning, was on her front steps around 1:30 p.m. as a neighbor in a blue sedan slowed down and yelled out the window like a town crier: "Guilty of all charges."

"Thank God, thank God," Widing, 64, rejoiced, clasping her hands.

Her friend and neighbor Linda Couch, who stopped by to learn the verdict, was also overjoyed. "Oh, God, I'm so happy," she said. "Now this man can rest in peace."

Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985 or jslobodzian@phillynews.com.