Overview
- Jury instructions began around midday Wednesday, setting the stage for deliberations in the 2023 airport garage shooting case.
- Defendants Yobranny Martinez-Fernandez, 20, and Hendrick Pena-Fernandez, 23, have pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree murder counts that carry life without parole.
- Prosecutors say the men were stealing a car at Philadelphia International Airport when Sgt. Mendez and Officer Raul Ortiz intervened and were shot, killing Mendez and injuring Ortiz.
- The state highlighted cellphone location records and recovered DNA, along with evidence the group dropped a wounded accomplice at Children’s Hospital and torched a vehicle in Cranbury, New Jersey.
- Defense attorneys argue neither defendant appears on surveillance footage or was identified by eyewitnesses, and they attacked the credibility of cooperating witness Alexander Batista-Polanco, who pleaded guilty and testified.