DA seeks death for man charged with killing woman, grandma

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PITTSBURGH (AP) — The district attorney is seeking the death penalty against a Pittsburgh man charged with killing his girlfriend and her grandmother because the younger woman wouldn't name their newborn son after him.

Twenty-five-year-old Cesar Mazza is jailed on two counts of criminal homicide and a charge of kidnapping his 11-week-old son.

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Police found the bodies of the child's mother, 19-year-old Tionna Banks, and her 72-year-old grandmother, Valorie Crumpton, at Crumpton's home May 7. Banks was arrested eight days later in Newark, New Jersey and charged with the killings.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. says Mazza deserves the death penalty because Crumpton was killed for being a witness to Banks' killing, because there were multiple killings and because Mazza was under a court order not to abuse Banks.

Mazza's defense attorney didn't immediately comment Thursday.

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