PHILADELPHIA, PA – A Philadelphia Police officer who’d recently seen a murder charge dropped against him regarding a fatal on-duty shooting of a suspect has now had the aforesaid charge reinstated by a judge following efforts made by prosecutors.
The charges against 27-year-old former Officer Mark Dial stem from an officer-involved shooting of an allegedly armed suspect this past August.
On August 14th, then-Officer Dial was among officers following a vehicle that was reportedly being driven erratically by 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry.
While officers didn’t pull the vehicle over in a traditional sense, Officer Dial and another officer approached Irizarry’s vehicle, where Officer Dial opened fire on the suspect after purportedly observing/being informed by his backup that the driver had a weapon.
Officials owned up to miscommunicating the facts of the case at the outset, initially telling the public that Irizarry lunged at officers while armed with a knife.
However, after the review of bodycam footage from the incident – which has since been made public – officials retracted their original characterization of the incident, clarifying that the deceased suspect did not exit their vehicle or lunge at officers prior to Officer Dial opening fire.
Commissioner Danielle Outlaw confirmed in August that two investigations were underway regarding the incident, one being conducted by internal affairs to ascertain whether Officer Dial followed department policy and one being conducted by the district attorney’s office.
Come August 23rd, Commissioner Outlaw confirmed that Officer Dial had been terminated from the department after five years of service, claiming Dial was not cooperating with the internal affairs investigation into the officer-involved shooting, as well as citing a handful of other alleged infractions like insubordination and refusal to obey a superior officer’s orders.
However, the job termination paled in comparison with what unveiled in the following weeks, as Dial was arrested on September 8th and was being charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and official oppression, according to a statement delivered by D.A. Larry Krasner at the time.
Dial was arraigned on September 8th and bail was set at $500K. The former officer made bond after posting 10% of the established bail amount.
Yet, eleven days after Dial bonded out of jail, Judge Lillian Ransom revoked his bail after prosecutors successfully argued before the court that a defendant charged with first-degree murder shouldn’t be eligible for bail.
In a case already rife with back-and-forth decisions, a September 26th hearing rendered a favorable outcome for Dial after Municipal Judge Wendy Pew agreed with the defense’s argument that Dial harbored a reasonable belief that the suspect was armed with a gun during the fatal incident, and thus acted in self-defense. The judge threw out the entire case, citing a lack of evidence from prosecutors, and Dial was released from custody that same day.
At the time of Dial’s September 26th release and dismissal of charges, prosecutors vowed to move forward and represent their case, and nearly a month from the day of Dial’s release, prosecutors delivered on that promise.
During an October 25th hearing, Judge Lillian Ransom sided with the prosecution’s argument that the facts of the case should be hashed out at a trial as opposed to relying solely on the prior judge’s interpretation of the events at the center of the case.
All charges have since been reinstated against the former officer, with defense attorney Brian McMonagle telling reporters outside the courthouse that he and his client are “obviously extremely disappointed” with the judge’s decision.
McMonagle further added that they may seek to have the trial venue moved outside of the city considering the copious amount of local media attention and statements on the case made by public officials.
The charges against 27-year-old former Officer Mark Dial stem from an officer-involved shooting of an allegedly armed suspect this past August.
On August 14th, then-Officer Dial was among officers following a vehicle that was reportedly being driven erratically by 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry.
While officers didn’t pull the vehicle over in a traditional sense, Officer Dial and another officer approached Irizarry’s vehicle, where Officer Dial opened fire on the suspect after purportedly observing/being informed by his backup that the driver had a weapon.
Officials owned up to miscommunicating the facts of the case at the outset, initially telling the public that Irizarry lunged at officers while armed with a knife.
However, after the review of bodycam footage from the incident – which has since been made public – officials retracted their original characterization of the incident, clarifying that the deceased suspect did not exit their vehicle or lunge at officers prior to Officer Dial opening fire.
Commissioner Danielle Outlaw confirmed in August that two investigations were underway regarding the incident, one being conducted by internal affairs to ascertain whether Officer Dial followed department policy and one being conducted by the district attorney’s office.
Come August 23rd, Commissioner Outlaw confirmed that Officer Dial had been terminated from the department after five years of service, claiming Dial was not cooperating with the internal affairs investigation into the officer-involved shooting, as well as citing a handful of other alleged infractions like insubordination and refusal to obey a superior officer’s orders.
However, the job termination paled in comparison with what unveiled in the following weeks, as Dial was arrested on September 8th and was being charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and official oppression, according to a statement delivered by D.A. Larry Krasner at the time.
Dial was arraigned on September 8th and bail was set at $500K. The former officer made bond after posting 10% of the established bail amount.
Yet, eleven days after Dial bonded out of jail, Judge Lillian Ransom revoked his bail after prosecutors successfully argued before the court that a defendant charged with first-degree murder shouldn’t be eligible for bail.
In a case already rife with back-and-forth decisions, a September 26th hearing rendered a favorable outcome for Dial after Municipal Judge Wendy Pew agreed with the defense’s argument that Dial harbored a reasonable belief that the suspect was armed with a gun during the fatal incident, and thus acted in self-defense. The judge threw out the entire case, citing a lack of evidence from prosecutors, and Dial was released from custody that same day.
At the time of Dial’s September 26th release and dismissal of charges, prosecutors vowed to move forward and represent their case, and nearly a month from the day of Dial’s release, prosecutors delivered on that promise.
During an October 25th hearing, Judge Lillian Ransom sided with the prosecution’s argument that the facts of the case should be hashed out at a trial as opposed to relying solely on the prior judge’s interpretation of the events at the center of the case.
All charges have since been reinstated against the former officer, with defense attorney Brian McMonagle telling reporters outside the courthouse that he and his client are “obviously extremely disappointed” with the judge’s decision.
McMonagle further added that they may seek to have the trial venue moved outside of the city considering the copious amount of local media attention and statements on the case made by public officials.
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Comments
2023-10-30T15:01-0400 | Comment by: Robert
B.L.M. = "BLUE LIVES MATTER". Why Judge Lillian Ransom, still sitting on the Bench ?