US police killer Eric Frein is sentenced to death

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Frein was sentenced by a jury to death by lethal injection

A man who eluded capture in the forests of Pennsylvania for seven weeks after fatally shooting a police officer in 2014 has been sentenced to death.

Eric Frein killed the officer outside a police barracks and wounded another.

He was found guilty last week of murder and terrorism. On Wednesday the jury deliberated for five hours before returning a death sentence.

Prosecutors said Frein killed Cpl Bryon Dickson because he wanted to start an uprising against the government.

After committing the crime, Frein went on the run and was only captured after a lengthy manhunt - much of it in dense forestry in Pennsylvania's Poconos mountains - before officers found him hiding in an abandoned plane hangar.

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Frein was captured in October 2014 after a lengthy manhunt which spanned more than 300 sq miles

The 33-year-old was described by police as a survivalist - a person preparing for catastrophe - who was armed and dangerous.

Local media say that although the condemned man faces a grim existence on death row, it is unlikely he will ever be executed.

That is because there is a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania, which has only executed three people since 1976.