PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday asked a judge to revoke the bail of Police Officer Mark Dial, who was charged with murder last week in the fatal shooting of Eddie Irizarry.
Dial, a five-year veteran of the force, is accused of first-degree murder, aggravated assault and related crimes after he shot and killed Irizarry, 27, at near point-blank range as he sat in his car in Kensington last month.
Typically, defendants charged with first-degree murder are held in jail without bail — something that prosecutors argue is required by a traditional reading of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
But in an unusual move, Municipal Court Judge Christian DiCicco set Dial’s bail at $500,000. Almost immediately, the police union posted the necessary $50,000 — 10% of the total bail — and Dial was released.
The DA’s Office said in a motion Wednesday that granting Dial bail is “inconsistent” with the state constitution “and is inadequate to assure the Defendant’s appearance at court and the safety of the community at large.”
Dial’s lawyers declined to comment Wednesday.
A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Tuesday before Common Pleas Court Judge Lillian Ransom.
On Friday, bail magistrate Marilyn Rigmaiden-DeLeon set Dial’s bail at $1 million. Prosecutors appealed that decision, arguing that he was to be held without bail.
During the bail hearing, one of Dial’s attorneys, Fortunato Perri Jr., questioned the charges against Dial and noted that when police submitted the affidavit of probable cause for Dial’s arrest, they recommended that he face a lead offense of voluntary manslaughter — not first-degree murder.
For that reason, Perri said, Dial should be eligible for bail, a request that was approved by DiCicco, who lowered bail to $500,000.
In Wednesday’s motion, the DA’s Office wrote that according to the Pennsylvania Constitution, all prisoners have a right to bail unless they are accused of capital offenses for which the maximum sentence is life in prison, or unless there’s proof that the person is an ongoing threat to the community.
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Because Dial has been charged with first-degree murder, which carries an automatic life sentence upon conviction, prosecutors say he should be held without bail.
Jules Epstein, a Temple University law professor, said exceptions to the traditional reading of the constitution are “unusual to the point of being extremely rare.”
But, Epstein said, a 2021 state Supreme Court case established limited circumstances in which murder defendants could argue for bail.
And DiCicco agreed that the circumstances of Dial’s case allowed for his release.