SCRANTON, Pa. — Lackawanna County prosecutors provided enough evidence to see two men stand trial for their alleged roles in January's shooting of a Scranton police officer and the crime spree that preceded, Magisterial District Judge Paul Ware ruled Friday.
Ware's decision to move forward all charges against Aiden Deininger and Jeremiah Cleveland came at the conclusion of a 4½ hour court hearing in which prosecutors, for the first time, publicly presented evidence from Jan. 11, the morning Detective Kyle Gilmartin nearly lost his life.
Ware heard emotional testimony from the officers at Gilmartin's side the night he was shot and watched police body camera video so graphic some in the courtroom opted to step outside, including Gilmartin and his wife.
"Kyle, can you hear me?" pleaded Patrolman Pat Perry as he raced from West Side to Geisinger Community Medical Center at 70 miles per hour. "Kyle, it's Pat Perry. We're a couple blocks from the hospital...can you talk to me? Please, can you hear me?"
Gilmartin, shot twice in the head, was silent.
Aiden Deininger, 21, is facing a list of charges, including attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer. He's accused of shooting Det. Gilmartin. State police Cpl. Dan Nilon testified Deininger admitted he shot Gilmartin.
As the judge read those charges, Deininger slightly bowed his head.
Jeremiah Cleveland, 19, is also facing aggravated assault and a number of gun charges stemming from a gunfire targeting alleged gang members that led up to Gilmartin's wounding.
In court, city Patrolman James Petrucci, of the Street Crimes Unit, and night shift Detective Sgt. Joseph Lafferty ran through what happened in the hours leading up to Gilmartin's shooting early Jan. 11. Lafferty began to choke up as the retelling approached the moment Gilmartin was shot.
They tracked Deininger and Cleveland by following Cleveland's social media livestreams centered on quarreling gang members and gun violence.
At one point, video presented in court showed a firearm pointed out of the window of a moving vehicle. A few rounds were squeezed off while a voice shouted "bow, bow, bow." After, the camera is spun around and purportedly showed Cleveland's face.
Police accused the pair of targeting two homes of reputed gang members. The investigators testified they managed to identify Deininger and Cleveland by watching the videos, and found out what car they were in by using surveillance cameras and license plate readers stationed in the city.
Petrucci tracked the livestreams to try and figure out what might happen next because police feared another shooting. Cleveland appeared to be inside a house as the morning wore on toward 4:30 a.m., but Deininger was still out.
All signs pointed to North Hyde Park Avenue and a crush of police converged on West Side.
One of those cars carried Lafferty, Gilmartin and Detective Jason Hyler.
Near North Main Avenue and Swetland Street, a man matching Deininger's description crossed their path, Lafferty testified. They moved in to make an arrest. Then Deininger reached into his pocket, Lafferty continued.
"He's got a gun," Gilmartin shouted. "He's got a gun."
The next thing Lafferty knew, his car was "blowing up," he testified.
Nilon testified Deininger's gun — a five-shot Ruger revolver — had five spent casings in the cylinder when they arrested Deininger. Two of the bullets struck Gilmartin in the head. Lafferty and Hyler were not hit.
Lafferty returned a volley of bullets and shot Deininger in his back, buttocks and leg. Deininger groaned as officers rendered him first aid while waiting for an ambulance.
Gilmartin could not wait for an ambulance. The 34-year-old detective had two bullet wounds in his head and his labored, gasping breath signaled he was dying, Lafferty testified.
Body camera footage showed police loading his limp body into Perry's patrol car. A few desperate minutes later, Perry reached the hospital's ambulance bay and banged on the emergency room doors. Though the ER had been alerted, no one had yet come outside to meet them.
After about a minute, Gilmartin was taken in for treatment. Blood on Perry's body camera obscured the view of the hospital emergency room. Hyler, knees bent, huddled with his hands above his head.
No one expected Gilmartin to survive, authorities testified Friday.
Somehow, Gilmartin made it.
Nearly half of a year after that morning, Gilmartin sat in the Lackawanna County courtroom with his colleagues. He's taken off the helmet he wore to protect his wounded head, but he bears the scars from that day. He left the courtroom during some of the day's more gruesome moments, but otherwise appeared in fine spirits.
As an active officer, he could not speak with reporters without the department's approval. After, he quietly left the courthouse alongside his wife.
After testimony concluded, Cleveland's attorney, Terrence McDonald, argued charges should be dismissed because First Assistant District Attorney Brian Gallagher and Deputy District Attorney Sara Varela failed to present evidence tying Cleveland to the firearm allegedly used.
"He was in the wrong place with a bad guy at the wrong time," McDonald said later.
Gallagher argued that Cleveland is charged with soliciting aggravated assault and pointed to text messages Cleveland allegedly sent to Deininger about targeting a gang member — "shoot him" "now" — that sufficiently make a case.
Attorney Robert Saurman, who represents Deininger, offered no argument in court to dismiss the charges, but noted he will dispute the facts later in the case.
After the hearing ended, he said it's not clear Deininger realized he was dealing with police officers. The detectives were in plain clothes and drove a unmarked vehicle that prosecutors said was still conspicuous enough to signal they were police.
"He was supposed to meet this guy for a fight on a back street-car comes driving towards him at a high rate of speed," Saurman said. "He doesn’t know who it is."
Ware said ordered the pair stand trial.
"We don’t let Kyle sacrifice do anything but strengthen our resolve," Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll said. "We’re out there because of him."