The man charged in a fatal 2018 stabbing in Pittsburgh’s North Shore pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder.
Joden Rocco, 28, was arrested in 2018 and charged with homicide in the stabbing death of Dulane Cameron Jr., 24, of Monaca.
In addition to the third-degree murder charge — a felony defined as neither a premeditated killing nor a homicide committed while engaging in felony behavior — Rocco, who has no listed address, also pleaded guilty to one count of possessing instruments of crime.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill Rangos is set to sentence Rocco on June 2.
According to a criminal complaint, Rocco attacked Mr. Cameron around 2 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2018, outside Tequila Cowboy on North Shore Drive. Interviews with witnesses and surveillance video led police to paint Rocco as the aggressor as he attacked Mr. Cameron and his friend for no apparent reason, the complaint reads.
Social media video showed Rocco, who is white, posted that he was “playing a game” and trying to see how many times he could use a racial slur before bar staff kicked him out. Mr. Cameron was Black.
Mick Stinelli: mstinelli@post-gazette.com; 412-263-1869; and on Twitter: @MickStinelli
First Published: February 24, 2022, 8:08 p.m.