Attorneys for the Pitcairn man accused of killing an Uber driver nearly two years ago are asking the court to suppress video evidence from a camera inside the car that captured the moments leading up to the woman’s death.

Calvin Crew, 24, could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 10, 2022, shooting of Christina Spicuzza.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkwoski heard from attorneys and witnesses Monday regarding the potential suppression of evidence from the dashcam video and Crew’s police interrogation four days later.

Borkowski took the motions under advisement.

The court docket shows that jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin Jan. 8.

Spicuzza, 38, of Turtle Creek, was killed Feb. 10, 2022, after police said she picked up Crew in Pitcairn around 9:15 p.m. His girlfriend had requested the Uber service.

As Spicuzza neared the drop-off location around 9:30 p.m., police said Crew had pulled out a handgun, grabbed the driver by her hair and held the weapon to the back of her head.

Crew ordered her to stop in a wooded area along Rosecrest Drive in Monroeville, where investigators said he killed her.

The dashboard camera, which was recovered along a Penn Hills street, captured the moments leading up to Spicuzza’s death. Crew’s defense attorneys argued the camera footage violates Pennsylvania’s wiretap statute, which requires people to be notified that they are being recorded.

On Monday, public defender Andy Howard said Crew was not given notice that Spicuzza’s dashboard camera was recording, and his client never gave consent.

“I don’t think any rational-minded human being would embark on this endeavor knowing they were being recorded,” Howard said. “Actual knowledge is required by the statute.”

Assistant District Attorney Emma Schoedel argued that it would have been clear from inside the vehicle that Crew was being recorded.

The dashboard camera, which had been mounted to the windshield, had two lenses — one that faced the roadway out the front of Spicuzza’s vehicle and one that faced the inside passenger compartment.

The camera also contained a display screen — about 1½ inches square — that showed the camera view from outside the vehicle, as well as a smaller inset image of the inside of the car.

It was clear Crew knew he was being recorded, Schoedel said, noting that he took the camera out of the car that night and threw it away.

“He’s watching himself being recorded,” she said. “Therefore, no notice has to be given.”

As part of the defense case, attorneys commissioned Christopher Borick to conduct a survey on the expectation of privacy for ride-share passengers who are Allegheny County residents.

Borick, the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, testified that his study showed the majority of passengers do not have an expectation of privacy in a ride-share.

Out of 515 completed surveys, Borick said that 62% of respondents expect to be recorded in a ride-share. In addition, 77% of those who answered questions said they believe the driver should provide notice to the passenger that they are being recorded.

The defense also is trying to suppress the statement Crew gave to police during a recorded interview four days after Spicuzza was killed.

Crew, who went to the Penn Hills police station that night with his girlfriend, was initially detained on an outstanding warrant from the Northern Regional police.

The warrant, on charges accusing him of illegally trying to buy a gun, was based on the premise that a 2015 juvenile case against him made it illegal for him to buy guns.

But Crew was never adjudicated delinquent on the robbery count and, as a result, was not prohibited from making the purchase, the defense said. Because the warrant was never valid, defense attorneys said Crew should never have been detained.

Schoedel said Crew voluntarily went to the police station when investigators said they wanted to talk to his girlfriend about the Uber ride she’d ordered from Spicuzza.

“He came in on his own,” Schoedel said. “(The detectives) weren’t trying to blow smoke over his eyes.”

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