Jury acquits Hazleton homicide defendants on all charges

Ed Lewis, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Updated ·2 min read
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Aug. 18—WILKES-BARRE — A large crowd supporting Wellington Ramirez and Keliana Jiminez erupted into cheers and applause minutes after a Luzerne County jury acquitted them in the fatal shooting of Felix Dini in Hazleton.

The jury deliberated for about 50 minutes finding Ramirez, 28, of Freeland, and Jiminez, 21, of Hazleton, not guilty on charges of first degree murder, third degree murder, criminal solicitation to commit criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide and two counts of aggravated assault.

Mere seconds after Judge David W. Lupas ended the proceeding, the crowd burst into applause and Ramirez and Jiminez hugged each other and tightly hugged their attorneys, Theron Solomon and Caelie M. Sweigert. Several of their supporters were stopped by sheriff deputies from approaching them inside the cordoned off area.

Assistant district attorneys Daniel Mulhern, Anthony Cardone and Benjamin Green relied on the testimony of Rochell Angel Reyes-Cruz, known as Chi Chi, during the four day trial.

Hazleton City police alleged Ramirez, Jiminez, the shooter identified only as Jendry, reportedly an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic, and a person identified as Luis, were involved in shooting Dini, 22, and Reyes-Cruz in the rear of 199 S. Wyoming St. on Oct. 7, 2022. Dini and Reyes-Cruz each suffered four gunshot wounds.

Dini died Oct. 10, 2022, while Reyes-Cruz survived.

Reyes-Cruz claimed Dini was involved in a struggle with Ramirez as he overheard Ramirez say, "shoot him." Jiminez got a firearm from a black Acura that she gave to Jendry, Reyes-Cruz testified.

Solomon heavily attacked Reyes-Cruz's credibility telling the jury that Reyes-Cruz was "not a saint" and could not be trusted.

Mulhern told the jury of the theory Ramirez "ordered" the shooting, with Jiminez "delivering" the firearm to Jendry for the "execution." Mulhern further told the jury Reyes-Cruz never swayed from his statement that Ramirez ordered the shooting with Jiminez getting the firearm in two interviews with Hazleton Police Det. Sgt. David Rodick.

During his closing argument to the jury Friday morning, Solomon criticized the investigation as Hazleton police failed to test blood found on a vehicle, failed to test for fingerprints on shell casings recovered at the scene, and did not analyzed a cellular phone believed to be Jendry's phone.

Prosecutors began the trial with outstanding search warrants and evidence that had not been returned as Lupas denied several requests in recent weeks to continue the trial, which had to be held by Oct. 19 under Rule 600, known as the state's speedy trial rule.

With the lack of evidence returns, prosecutors were criticized by Solomon during his closing argument by waiting until the last minute to serve search warrants, notably a search warrant for Dini's Instagram records.

Prosecutors received Dini's Instagram records late Tuesday night, which caused a delay in the trial to allow Solomon to review the 600-plus pages.