PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Testimony has wrapped in the trial against two men accused of fatally shooting Philadelphia Police Sgt. Richard Mendez two years ago in an airport parking garage and wounding his partner.
An analyst told the court on Tuesday that Yobranny Martinez-Fernandez’s DNA was on a shell casing found in the garage where Mendez and his partner were shot in Oct. 2023, while interrupting a car theft.
Prosecutors believe Martinez-Fernandez was the shooter, and Hendrick Pena-Fernandez was an accomplice.
The analyst said Martinez-Fernandez’s DNA was inside the Dodge Charger that had been broken into, on a dollar bill found at the scene and on a glove taken off Jesus Madiera-Duran, one of the alleged accomplices who was also shot and killed that night. Pena-Fernandez's DNA was also said to be on the glove.
A homicide detective showed the jurors a montage of surveillance video showing a Dodge Durango entering and fleeing that parking garage, and making stops in the hours before and after, including dropping Madiera-Duran off at the hospital.
The trial began last week, with testimony from police officers, investigators, experts and eyewitnesses, including the defendant’s former friend Alexander Batista-Polanco, who explained to jurors what he said the group did that night.
Martinez-Fernandez and Pena-Fernandez have been charged with second degree murder, robbery and related charges. They face mandatory life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Batista-Polanco pleaded guilty to third-degree murder charges before trial.