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Insanity defence barred for trooper ambush slaying suspect

MILFORD, Pa. – A judge has barred an insanity defence for a man charged with fatally ambushing a Pennsylvania state trooper and wounding a second trooper near a barracks.

Pike County Judge Gregory Chelak granted a prosecutor’s request to bar Eric Frein (freen) from presenting evidence of insanity or “mental infirmity” at his upcoming trial.

Frein’s lawyers had already indicated they were unlikely to pursue an insanity defence.

Jury selection is slated for March in Chester County, outside Philadelphia. The panel will be bused to Pike County.

Frein is charged with killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and wounding another trooper outside the Blooming Grove barracks in September 2014. He has pleaded not guilty.

He led police on a tense 48-day manhunt before U.S. marshals caught him about 30 miles from the shooting scene.

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