Bank-robber’s defense: No intent to kill 2 armored-car guards during Philly ATM-machine heist

Defense: No intent to kill Pa. armored-car guards

PHILADELPHIA — Defense lawyers trying to spare their client the death penalty say he never intended to kill two security guards during a 2007 ATM-machine heist in Philadelphia.

Mustafa Ali is charged with killing two armored-car guards in a brazen holdup outside a bank near a busy north Philadelphia shopping mall.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the videotaped slayings of 65-year-old William Widmaier and 54-year-old Joseph Alullo.

The 38-year-old Ali, formerly Shawn Steele, had been convicted of robbing five city banks in the early 1990s.

In opening statements Monday, public defenders said his actions show a man intent on robbery, not murder.

Ali admitted in his police statement that he killed the Loomis guards. A third guard survived and is expected to be a key trial witness.