DA’s office requests Vickers and his co-defendants be tried together for RPD officer’s murder
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Monroe County District Attorney’s Office requested something rarely done in criminal trials.
The office requested that Kelvin Vickers, accused of murdering Rochester Police Officer Tony Mazurkiewicz, and his two co-defendants all be tried together.
That’s despite the fact that Vickers is the only one charged in Officer Mazurkiewicz’s murder. Vickers appeared in court on Friday morning.
Deadrick Fulwiley and Raheim Robinson are charged in connection to murders that happened the day before Officer Mazurkiewicz was killed in July 2022.
Joe Damelio is representing Rahiem Robinson. He worries that one defendant’s case could affect the others, and because all three are charged with different crimes he believes they should be tried separately.
“My client is not charged with anything regarding the shooting of the police officers. He’s not involved in that case whatsoever,” said Damelio. He continued, “Can my client get a fair trial while being tried with another defendant who is accused of the murder of this police officer which has garnered all this negative attention — and our position is no, that the spillover effect from that case, and from the defendant, will hinder us.”
Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley says a consolidation trial is merited because these crimes are tied together.
“So, you know our position is it occurred over the course of three days. This is a course of conduct. This should be tried together, and my position is clearly, you know, it supports the aggravated murder charge that they must have known that the police were looking after them, after all the havoc that they were … causing in the City of Rochester over the previous days,” said Doorley.
Prosecutors say the three men were involved in a string of other crimes and are connected to a gang.
Doorley couldn’t name a past example similar to what prosecutors proposed for Vickers’ co-defendants.
As an alternative, Doorley proposed having all three defendants tried in one trial but with a different jury for each defendant. A judge will decide.