Jury views surveillance footage

Pablo Ibar’s retrial finishes third day

Almost from the moment the recording begins, it is clear that it is no ordinary video.

Two men enter the home of Casimir “Butch Casey” Sucharski from a patio door leading into his dining room. One of Sucharski’s guests, Sharon Anderson, gets up from the table and walks toward a bedroom in the back. She’s chased by one of the intruders while the other approaches Sucharski and, almost without warning, strikes him in the face with both hands.

The intruder who beat Sucharski is armed.

With Sucharski on the floor, he knocks Marie Rogers off the chair on which she’s seated.

By the time the video ends, Sucharski, Anderson and Rogers are dead.

The intruders have no idea their every move is being recorded. One of the men, the same one who chased Anderson into the rear bedroom, removes the T-shirt covering his face.

That man, according to prosecutors, is Pablo Ibar, now 46, on trial for a third time in Broward County, accused of the triple murder and facing the death penalty.

The jury on Thursday was shown the troubling, graphic video. The goriness of the recording is tempered by its low quality and the fact that it’s not in color, but the violence is unmistakable. Sucharski is beaten repeatedly. All three victims are shot twice.

Every moment is recorded. The question before the jury is whether prosecutors are correct in identifying Ibar as one of the gunmen who stormed into Sucharski’s home early one morning in June 1994.

This is the third jury that’s been asked about Ibar, and the fifth to be faced with the de-

tails of this case.

Ibar and his original co-defendant, Seth Penalver, were identified as the killers weeks after the bodies of Sucharski, Anderson and Rogers were found. The men were put on trial together in 1997, a marathon proceeding that ended in a hung jury.

Penalver was tried separately in 1999, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ibar was then tried, convicted and sentenced to die.

But the Florida Supreme Court granted retrials to both men — Penalver was retried and acquitted in 2012.

Ibar’s retrial was granted in 2016 and began on Monday. His lawyers, Fred Haddad, Kevin Kulik, Joe Nacimiento and Benjamin Waxman are arguing that the entire case was tainted by shoddy police work motivated more by closing the case than making sure the actual perpetrators were captured and held responsible.

Other potential suspects were ignored and one witness, defense lawyers said, was guided to Crimestoppers to collect a reward, calling his testimony into question.

Prosecutors William Sinclair, Chuck Morton and Katya Palmiotto say Ibar left his DNA on the T-shirt that he had used to cover his face on the video, which Sucharski had secretly recorded. The T-shirt was left at the scene and also contains the DNA of Anderson and a third person who has yet to be identified — the defense believes the DNA belongs to one of the real perpetrators of the crime.

Penalver paid a surprise visit to the courtroom on Tuesday and was promptly ordered to leave — Penalver is a potential witness who can be called to testify either by prosecutors or the defense.

While he and Ibar have always denied involvement in the murders, Penalver declined to answer prosecutors’ questions about the case under oath in pretrial interviews.

Even if he were to confess, prosecutors would not be able to bring charges against Penalver, but that didn’t stop him from repeatedly pleading his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The trial before Broward Circuit Judge Dennis Bailey is expected to last at least until mid-January.