Miami Gardens Murder Suspect Found Competent For Trial
MIAMI - (CBSMiami.com) – One of the three men accused of killing a couple at a Miami Gardens gas station has been found competent to stand trial, attorneys for both sides agreed Wednesday in a Miami courtroom.
Eric Ellington, 16, has undergone a psychological evaluation and it was determined that he is competent. Ellington was not in court Wednesday. However, the two other suspects Dylan McFarlane and Wayne Williams were in court.
McFarlane, Ellington and Williams are accused of causing the fatal shooting that occurred at 12:38 a.m. on July 25th at the Mobile Gas Station south of the Palmetto Expressway on Northwest 57th Avenue.
Julian Soler, 23, and Kennia Duran, 24, were both shot to death while pumping gas into Soler's 1997 Ford Mustang Cobra. They were ambushed, forced out of the car and shot. The shooting was captured on surveillance video from the store.
Family members for both Soler and Duran sat in court, at times wiped away tears, and are hoping all three men are found competent to stand trial.
"They want to declare them crazy and they are not crazy," Soler's grandmother Adelaida Roman said after the hearing.
"He was a good kid. He was an angel," Roman said of her grandson Julian Soler.
Prosecutor Michael Von Zamft has said he will not be pursuing the death penalty in the cases because Ellington and Williams were both 16 when they allegedly shot the young couple.
Police say Ellington named two of his accomplices and said his fingerprints were found on the victim's car. Ellington has since entered a not guilty plea.
All the men face two counts of first-degree murder, robbery, armed carjacking, burglary with assault or battery, and armed robbery.
A tentative trial date was scheduled for February before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Lisa Walsh.
