Homicide suspect takes plea deal
WILKES-BARRE - For 15 months they were bound by their predicament - two men on the same side of a fatal stabbing on a Hazleton street corner.
Angel Sanchez, 21, and Rodolfo Hiraldo-Perez, 25, killed together, prosecutors said, and despite their attorneys' maneuvering, were supposed to face trial and a possible life sentence together, too.
Then Monday, as attorneys and prosecutors prepared to select a jury, Sanchez, of 60½ N. Wyoming St., Hazleton, veered from solidarity and pleaded guilty in Luzerne County court to third-degree murder. Prosecutors withdrew four other charges, including criminal conspiracy and aggravated assault.
Judge David W. Lupas scheduled sentencing for May 29. Sanchez, jailed since the January 2011 stabbing, faces 20 to 40 years in prison under state guidelines.
Prosecutors did not indicate whether the plea agreement Monday required Sanchez to testify against Hiraldo-Perez, who appeared willing to leave his fate to a jury.
Opening arguments in his trial are expected today.
Hiraldo-Perez, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, is charged with an open count of criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit homicide, aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit homicide, and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.
If convicted of first-degree murder, he faces a mandatory life sentence.
Demetrius Fannick, the public defender representing Sanchez, did not return a telephone message. Prosecutors in the case are barred from making statements to the media.
Sanchez's guilty plea Monday came a week after Lupas ruled that prosecutors in the trial would be permitted to show jurors video from surveillance cameras near the scene of the January 2011 stabbing.
Prosecutors said the video, from a security camera at a nightclub near the East Green Street crime scene, shows Hiraldo-Perez with a knife and stabbing victim Vladimir Ruiz, 21, as Sanchez pummeled him with punches and kicked him in the head. The video shows Hiraldo-Perez pulling Sanchez off Ruiz and both men fleeing the scene, but did not capture the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Judah Hope, prosecutors said.
The man suspected of killing Hope, Willis Gonzalez, 22, of 441 E. Diamond Ave., Hazleton, remains at large.
Ruiz and Hope were found lying on the north sidewalk of East Green Street, west of the intersection of North Wyoming Street at 1:45 a.m., Jan. 16, 2011.
Ruiz, who suffered multiple serious injuries including knife wounds to his torso, was dead on arrival at a local hospital, police said. Hope suffered gunshot wounds and was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Hazleton police arrested Sanchez almost immediately after the stabbing and shooting. Hiraldo-Perez fled to New York City. Authorities there arrested him Jan. 25 and extradited him to Pennsylvania on Feb. 3.
Through a translator, Hiraldo-Perez told the extradition judge he moved to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 2007, living briefly in New York before moving to Hazleton.
He said he last lived at 16½ Maple St., Hazleton, and worked in a local chocolate factory for a few days before fleeing to New York. He said he has a criminal record, spending time in jail for robbery.
msisak@citizensvoice.com
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