Former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial is out of jail on bond after prosecutors dropped first degree murder charges against him for shooting and killing Eddie Irizarry. At the time of the shooting Dial’s defense argued he was acting in self-defense. His trial date is now set for next year. NBC10’s Brian Sheehan has the details.
First-degree murder charges for the shooting death of a man in Kensington last year have been dropped against former Philadelphia Police officer Mark Dial.
The change allowed Dial, 28, to be released on bail.
On Thursday, court documents claim, during a scheduling conference in a Philadelphia court, a first-degree murder charge against Dial was dropped.
The decision came after Dial's defense argued that the prosecution did not turn over a critical expert witness report they commissioned months ago and planned to use at trial.
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Court documents note Dial's bail was set at $200,000 and he posted 10-percent of that, or $20,000.
Contacted after that court action, a representative for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the change.
Attorneys for Dial did not immediately return a call for comment.
Dial was being held in police custody -- though court documents do not detail where -- on charges of third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and other offenses related to the Aug. 14, 2023 killing of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry.
In Pennsylvania, those charged with first- or second-degree murder are unable to be released on bail. But, third-degree murder charges don't carry the same limitation.
According to the Associated Press, a trial date for Dial, which was initially scheduled to begin next month, has been pushed back until next year.
Attorney's representing Irizarry's family said they did not find out about the news until Thursday.
"There’s a certain level of communication you’d expect to take place, right? The clients should not have to find out through their lawyers the day of. The lawyers shouldn’t find out from their clients any information. Information should flow one way. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen," Shaka Johnson, the Irizarry family attorney, said.
A few dozen people, including Irizarry's sister, gathered for a rally that was held outside the Criminal Justice Center in Center City on Sunday.
"I was confused, I was angry...of course I’m sad because he gets to share a moment again with his family and that’s a moment we don’t get to share with my brother," Maria Irizarry said.
The death of Eddie Irizarry
Last year, Dial shot and killed Irizarry shortly after Irizarry parked his car on an Kensington street shortly after Dial and another officer attempted to pull him over for driving the wrong way.
As could be seen on body camera footage that was released after the incident, in the span of six seconds, Dial announced his intention to kill Irizarry and never retreated to cover behind his patrol car, before firing five times through Irizarry's closed window, killing him.
At the time of the shooting, officers believed Irizarry may have been armed, however he did not have a firearm.
Irizarry did have two knives in the vehicle when he was killed.
Initially, citing a lack of evidence, a Philadelphia judge decided, on Sept. 26, 2023, to drop murder charges against Dial.
That ruling led to protests as well as days of unrest and looting as opportunistic individuals were said to have used it as a reason to target stores throughout the city.
Murder charges against Dial were reinstated in October of last year.
Late last month, a judge turned down a request to move Dial's trial out of the city after his lawyers claimed he would be unable to get a fair trial in the city.
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