All charges reinstated against ex-Philadelphia officer Mark Dial in Eddie Irizarry shooting death
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- All charges against former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial have been reinstated, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Dial was back in court about one month after a judge dismissed all charges against him in the shooting death of Eddie Irizarry in Kensington.
Common Pleas Court Judge Lillian Ransom's courtroom in the Criminal Justice Center was packed before the hearing.
Protesters from the Party for Socialism and Liberation shouted Eddie Irizarry's name outside the CJC, demanding justice for the man they say was murdered by Dial.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office argued to reinstate the charges of first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and official oppression.
"God is good, God is good," Ana Cintron, Irizarry's aunt, said.
Ransom ruled in the prosecutors' favor, and Dial was taken back into custody. As with all first-degree murder defendants in the commonwealth, he is being held without bail.
Body camera and surveillance footage showed Dial opening fire on Irizarry as he sat in his car on Willard Street in Kensington on Aug. 14.
Officials said Dial and his partner had been following Irizarry, who was driving erratically, and then got out of their police cruiser when Irizarry went the wrong way down Willard, a one-way street.
Prosecutors say within six seconds, Dial fired five shots through the closed driver's side window.
Dial's defense team contends the former officer was threatened and that while Irizarry was holding a knife in his car during the encounter, he believed he heard his partner say gun. Two knives were found in the car.
"The facts here are undeniable," attorney Brian McMonagle said. "Mark Dial did not commit a crime."
Municipal Court Judge Wendy L. Pew threw out the case at a preliminary hearing last month, citing a "lack of evidence."
"You have the evidence all there," Zoraida Garcia, another aunt of Irizarry's, said. "The videos is all there. It was a murder that was committed. So I'm just grateful that she seen that today."
Irizarry's relatives were outraged over the judge's decision to drop the case and Dial was fired for insubordination.
Police changed their account of the shooting a day after reviewing body camera footage. Police initially said Irizarry was outside of his car and "lunged" at officers, but the footage showed Irizarry remained inside the vehicle with the windows rolled up during the shooting.
Ultimately Judge Ransom disagreed with the lower court judge and moved the case forward for trial, saying there are questions that need to be answered by either a jury or a trial judge.
Dial's defense team says their next move is to try to have a trial moved out of Philadelphia.
"We wanna try and get this case moved to a place where Mark could get a fair trial," McMonagle said. "Where the governing officials of the city aren't speaking out against him. Where people are not affecting the way the criminal justice system works."
Prosecutors declined to comment after the hearing.
