Guilty Verdicts For Violent Crime Spree That Left 1 Dead
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A 23-year-old Philadelphia man has now been convicted of a violent 2010 crime wave (see related story) that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
The defendant has been convicted of a murder during a robbery, and shooting police in two other separate incidents.
Prosecutor Brian Zarallo says defendant Nasuil Martinez, on the run after shooting and wounding one police officer, walked up to the front door of 38-year-old victim Carlos Fernandez and shot him three times. A day later, police tracked Martinez to the dark basement of a home in Northeast Philadelphia and he opened fire.
"No less than eight shots fired at them in close range," Zarallo said. "If not for Sargaent Binns' helmet (seen to the right), he would have certainly been killed. If not for police officer Whalen's vest, he was hit dead center in the vest, mid-center in the trauma plate, he would have been killed."
Another bullet just missed another officer.
"Really there, by the grace of God, this series of events didn't result in one of the bloodiest days in the Philadelphia Police Department in the history of the department," Zarallo said.
During an earlier hearing in this case, Martinez was discovered with a metal piece in a wrist brace, sharpened into a makeshift knife about seven inches long (see related story).
