PITTSBURGH -- DNA discovered on a fur coat and other evidence shows a Pittsburgh man was behind the execution-style shooting of a state trooper after a car chase and crash, a prosecutor said Monday. Leslie Mollett, 32, is accused of killing Cpl. Joseph Pokorny in December 2005 after Mollett crashed his car while the trooper was pursuing him for speeding. Mollett faces the death penalty. Mollett, whose trial began Monday, has pleaded not guilty. Defense attorney John Elash has denied his client shot the trooper, but said Mollett may have been at the scene when the shooting occurred. Investigators have said Pokorny, 45, was shot with his own weapon in the chest and back of the head after he tried to pat down Mollett, who was accompanied by two passengers believed to have fled the scene. "Joe Pokorny was just doing his job, folks," prosecutor Mark Tranquilli told jurors in an opening statement. "He was a state trooper and he was looking for people just like Les Mollett. He was looking for people who were breaking the law." Evidence from the scene, including a fur coat, a hat and a handgun, contained traces of Mollett's DNA, he said. The defendant's inhaler also was found there, Tranquilli said. "The evidence in this case all comes back to two people _ Joe Pokorny and Les Mollett," he said. The trial is expected to be lengthy, with more than 60 witnesses and 200 exhibits, including ballistic evidence, photographs and clothing, Tranquilli said. Mollett was wearing a black shirt and was handcuffed as he was led into the packed courtroom, where members of his family sat along with relatives of the slain trooper and more than 20 of Pokorny's colleagues, who were not in uniform. Defense attorney Elash urged jurors to determine the facts of the case and avoid acting on emotional impulses. He questioned whether Pokorny's killing was malicious and premeditated. "This was an excited, quick-developing situation," he said. "Nobody saw an execution killing. Nobody saw shots being fired."
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