FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Broward County Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra said on Friday that he plans to announce his ruling about whether or not Florida’s self-defense law applied to law enforcement during a 2019 shooting that killed innocent bystanders in Miramar.
Kollra listened to more than 25 witnesses answer questions during seven days of pre-trial hearings in the case of Jose Mateo, a suspended Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office deputy indicted for manslaughter.
M-DCSO Sgt. Manuel Malgor, who has more than three decades of experience in law enforcement, was the last expert witness on Friday.
“His actions were textbook in what I would teach or want to see in a situation like that,” Malgor said about Mateo.
Kollra’s ruling on Mateo’s case will also have implications in the manslaughter cases against three other M-DSO deputies: Rodolfo Mirabal, Richard Santiesteban, and Leslie Lee.
With the help of videos and photographs, witnesses answered questions from both the defense and the prosecution about the tragedy on Dec. 5, 2019.
Broward County Assistant State Attorney Chuck Morton argued against the “stand your ground” defense when he asked, “If the officers are involved in contagious fire, does it present a threat to the hostage?”
Malgor said, “Yes, I would say so."
After a jewelry store heist in Coral Gables, Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Hill kidnapped Frank Ordonez while he worked for UPS. The duo hijacked the UPS truck that he had been assigned to drive in Miami-Dade and died in Broward.
The police pursuit from Miami-Dade to Broward ended with the shooting on Miramar Parkway: 20 law enforcement officers from four agencies fired over 220 rounds in about 25 seconds, according to an investigation involving the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Four men -- two suspects and two victims -- died. Alexander and Hill, both 41, the armed suspects, and Ordonez, 27, an unarmed hostage, died in the stolen UPS truck. Richard Cutshaw was in his car when he got caught in the crossfire and died at 70 while on his way home from work.
Lizmarie Dedeno, who was also caught in the crossfire and survived, also testified on Friday. She told the defense that she heard the first shot was fired from the UPS truck. Morton later said, “You have no idea as to who was firing those shots?”
Dedeno said, “No, I don’t. I just heard it.”
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