PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Most charges against the trio of young men accused of killing a Philadelphia police officer at the airport in October have been upheld by a judge after a lengthy preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
Sgt. Richard Mendez’s widow and daughter sat through hours of the hearing, often holding each other as they listened to witnesses testify to the evidence prosecutors say links Yobranny Martinez-Fernandez, 18, and Alexander Batista-Palanco and Hendrick Peña-Fernández, both 21, to the killing of Mendez and the shooting of his partner Raul Ortiz.
Investigators said Mendez and Ortiz were reporting for the start of their shift at Philadelphia International Airport around 11 p.m. on Oct. 12 when they heard glass shattering and saw a group of people trying to break into a car in the Terminal D garage. One officer was in full uniform and the other was in partial uniform.
They went to investigate the commotion, and that's when the suspects started shooting. Mendez was hit several times in the upper torso. He was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died. Ortiz was hit in the arm. He was released from the hospital days later.
Investigators say DNA from Martinez-Fernandez matches DNA on a dollar bill found outside a stolen Dodge Charger and a shell casing at the scene. They also say only one gun was used.
There were seven shots fired, and none came from the officers’ service weapons. They say that gun killed Mendez and 18-year-old Jesus Madeira-Duran, who was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Experts testified that cellphone data matches with cell tower information about the path they believe the group took from New Jersey to the airport, then to CHOP to drop off Madeira-Duran, and then back to New Jersey.
Investigators believe multiple Instagram videos also match the phones the defendants were carrying, and one detective played a video showing two of the defendants driving along I-95 roughly 30 minutes before the shooting.
The three defense attorneys tried to poke holes in the case and argued there was not enough evidence to hold the group on those charges. In the end, Judge David Shuter held murder charges against Martinez-Fernandez and second-degree murder on the other two defendants. Shuter tossed the attempted murder charges against them.
The trio will now go through the trial phase in the Common Pleas Court and face the potential of life in prison.