Jury deliberating at trial of 2 in fatal home invasion

NORRISTOWN » The fates of two men accused of roles in a deadly home invasion robbery in Norristown are in the hands of a Montgomery County jury.

A jury of six men and six women began deliberations at 2:50 p.m. Thursday at the joint homicide trial of Justin M. Mitchell and Henry Diaz-Ayala, two of three men who are accused of taking part in the Jan. 23, 2019, home invasion robbery that ended with the gunshot slaying of Ralph Williams, 66, inside his home in the 500 block of Cherry Street.

The jury began deliberating after hearing closing statements from lawyers and receiving legal instructions from Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy. The jury was deliberating into the evening hours Thursday.

With the charges, Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman and co-prosecutor Samantha Arena alleged Mitchell and Diaz-Ayala, along with a third man, Russell Montalvo-Fernandez, went to the Cherry Street home to rob Williams’s son, David Pass, and that Williams was killed when he fought back during a confrontation.

Using the slang, street term for robbery, Cauffman characterized the case as “a lick that went bad.”

“They went in there to rob someone. They violently invaded a man’s home. These people weren’t over for a friendly visit. The lick went bad when Ralph Williams had the audacity to stick up for himself,” Cauffman argued during her closing statement to the jury. “They shot and killed Ralph Williams because he got in the way.

“The cold and callous way that the defendants treated Ralph Williams, they beat him, they stabbed him and they shot him and left him for dead,” Cauffman added.

While trial testimony pointed to Montalvo-Fernandez as the man who fatally shot Williams and shot and injured Pass, prosecutors argued all three men were part of the conspiracy and therefore, are on the hook for the murder.

Mitchell, 43, of the 700 block of East Elm Street, Norristown, and DiazAyala, 42, of the 200 block of East Rockland Street, Philadelphia, each face charges of second- and third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault and robbery in connection with the incident. Diaz-Ayala also faces a charge of possession of an instrument of crime.

Authorities are still searching for Montalvo-Fernandez, 40, of Philadelphia, who also faces homicide-related charges in connection with the incident, but remains on the lam.

Defense lawyer Gregory P. DiPippo, who represents Diaz-Ayala, and defense lawyer Ryan L. Hyde, who represents Mitchell, argued prosecutors do not have sufficient evidence to prove the charges.

Hyde suggested Mitchell was forced by Diaz-Ayala and Montalvo-Fernandez, who were armed with guns, to go with them to the home.

“He was under duress when he entered that house,” Hyde argued during his closing statement to jurors, adding prosecutors “are asking you to make too many guesses.”

Hyde claimed the evidence supports Mitchell’s story that he was under duress.

Mitchell testified he went to the Cherry Street home with Diaz-Ayala and Montalvo-Fernandez where Mitchell believed the men were going to take money or drugs from Pass. Mitchell claimed he was unarmed but that the other two men were armed and threatened him with the guns, suggesting he was forced to participate in the home invasion.

Mitchell claimed the men forced open a rear door to the house and entered and he admitted he helped the other two men force open the bedroom door of Pass, who was 21 at the time.

Mitchell claimed that at one point he ran out of the house with the thought to flee but then re-entered the home out of fear of retaliation from Montalvo-Fernandez and Diaz-Ayala.

Mitchell claimed that when he got back inside the home he observed DiazAyala bleeding and DiazAyala uttered that Williams had stabbed him during an altercation. Mitchell claimed he observed Montalvo-Fernandez shoot Pass in the leg and then shoot Williams in the chest, adding he was in shock about what happened.

DiPippo didn’t dispute that Diaz-Ayala was at the scene but he did dispute whether prosecutors proved all the elements of the charges lodged against Diaz-Ayala. DiPippo suggested some prosecution witnesses gave inconsistent or false statements and testimony to authorities, and that their trial testimony could not be trusted.

“There’s absolutely no evidence my client took part in that killing,” DiPippo argued during his closing statement to jurors.

Testimony revealed that a .380-caliber handgun was left behind at the scene and that DNA analysis linked it to Diaz-Ayala, whose blood also was found at the scene.

Diaz-Ayala did not testify during the trial.

The investigation began about 9:17 p.m. Jan. 23, when Norristown police responded to Williams’s Cherry Street home for a report of a shooting. Williams was found dead from apparent gunshot wounds in a second-floor bedroom, according to testimony and a criminal complaint filed by county Detective William Mitchell Jr. and Norristown Police Corporal James Angelucci.

An autopsy determined Williams died from multiple gunshot and stab wounds coupled with blunt impact to the head. Pass was shot in the buttocks and leg and survived the assault and called 911, according to testimony.

During the trial, detectives testified they obtained surveillance video from numerous cameras in the borough, which showed a Chevrolet Impala with a missing driver’s side hubcap arriving in Norristown, driving onto Maple Alley without headlamps and parking behind Williams’s Cherry Street residence. Three men could be seen exiting the vehicle and walking toward the rear of the Cherry Street residence, according to the videotape shown in court.

“Minutes before the 911 call, the three suspects return to the Chevrolet Impala and the vehicle drives from the scene,” detectives alleged in the arrest affidavit.

Approximately 30 minutes after the fatal shooting, at 9:46 p.m., Diaz-Ayala arrived at Temple University Hospital, transported in the Impala by Montalvo Fernandez, where he was treated for a stab wound, according to testimony.

Detectives testified investigators noted a blood trail in the house, through the rear kitchen door and into Maple Alley, consistent with someone bleeding as they fled the residence.

Cellphone records placed Diaz-Ayala and Montalvo Fernandez in the area of the Cherry Street residence at the time of the shooting and murder, detectives testified. The investigation, which also involved a grand jury, linked the two men to Mitchell, according to court documents.