Did police enter the home of an accused cop killer illegally?

That's what attorneys for George Hitcho, Jr. are hoping to prove to a Northampton County judge.

The defense also wants statements Hitcho allegedly made to another inmate suppressed.

The defense says when police arrived at the scene of the Freemansburg shooting they illegally entered Hitcho's home but the District attorney says officers were simply following procedure.
"It's routine procedure when they have a structure when someone just walked out of it with a gun and a shooting occurred they must go through it and do a cursory inspection for the safety of the police because we don't know if someone else is in there with a gun, whether he was the only guy or whatever," said District Attorney John Morganelli.

Defense attorneys say officers searched Hitcho's house illegally.

And what they found led to search warrants for items inside the house.

In court Friday, police officers testified the Hitcho home was swarming with police, emergency personnel and residents right after the shooting.

The officers told the judge there was concern for scene safety.

Several testified that initially it was unclear how many people were involved, even though several officers say they saw Hitcho in handcuffs when they arrived.

The defense is also hoping to suppress statements Hitcho allegedly made to an inmate shortly after he was arrested.

The inmate is expected to testify Hitcho allegedly introduced himself as a cop-killer and said that he would be found insane at trail.

The DA says he anticipates some kind of psychiatric or drug related defense at trial. 

"Whatever was going through his head that day it was he knew what he was doing and he used deadly force and ended the life of a young cop," said Morganelli.

The judge will decide on the issue of the search and the statements in the coming weeks.