With escaped brother in custody, DA to fight for single trial for Wake deputy’s murder
Two brothers charged with killing a Wake County deputy are asking a judge to try their murder cases separately, possibly foreshadowing defenses where each man blames the other for shooting Ned Byrd.
District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, however, wants her office to prosecute Alder Marin-Sotelo, 28, and Arturo Marin-Sotelo, 31, together, she told The News & Observer.
Since the brothers were arrested five days after the killing in August 2022, Arturo has argued in court documents that he was innocent and his brother is responsible for the killing.
Statements revealing Alder’s potential defense strategy were revealed in public documents for the first time last week. In Alder’s motion to sever the cases, his attorney Robert Singagliese said the two co-defendants will likely present “antagonistic defenses.”
A hearing set for Monday morning was expected to hear arguments from each side, as well possibly set a court date. Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway postponed the hearing for two to three weeks to give time for Alder to return to Wake County.
Alder escaped from a detention center in Virginia in 2023 and fled to his native town in Mexico in 2023.
Mexican officials handed him over to the United States last week, but he isn’t expected to be back in Wake County for three weeks, Assistant District Attorney Patrick Latour said Monday morning.
Byrd found on rural road
Police found Byrd lying in the grass and shot multiple times beside his SUV in southeast Wake County at 1 a.m. on Aug. 12. His K-9 partner, Sasha, was found unharmed in his Sheriff’s Office SUV, parked beside him on Battle Bridge Road, a two-lane road lined with fences and pastures.
Family and friends remembered Byrd, an Air Force veteran who worked for the Sheriff’s Office for 13 years, for his selflessness and adventurous life.
“It was a great loss for humanity in general,” said Larry Carter, one of Byrd’s good friends, who attended the short court hearing Monday morning. Byrd’s dog, Sasha, found in his truck unharmed, could no longer work her K-9 duties, The News & Observer reported.
Local, state and federal investigators gathered evidence, including surveillance footage from a nearby gas station that showed someone shot Byrd two hours before he was found.
Investigators then analyzed cell phone usage data in the area that identified the brothers, who they started tracking, according to search warrants.
Police arrested the brothers five days after the killing as the men were trying to flee the state, driving two separate SUVs west on Interstate 40, according to search warrants.
The day of their arrests, Arturo told investigators that he had nothing to do with a murder. He said he and his brother rode out to the rural area to hunt for deer at night.
Alder stayed in the car while Arturo walked through the woods looking for deer carrying an AK-47, Arturo told investigators.
Arturo told police he saw a police car pull up to Alder’s GMC truck from the woods and then heard gunshots. Alder then drove off in the red pickup truck, as Arturo watched him from the woods, he told police.
Arturo said he called his brother on his cell phone. Alder told him an officer had been shot, Arturo told police. Alder later returned in a different car, an SUV, and picked up Arturo, he told police.
Arturo’s attorney Jay Ferguson has argued his client is innocent in motions asking prosecutors to separate the trials and to set a bond that would allow Arturo to leave jail, where he’s been held since his arrest in August 2022, five days after the shooting.
In 2023, Alder escaped a detention facility in Virginia and was later found in Mexico. Alder was extradited to the United States last week.
What the law says
Under North Carolina law, two or more criminal cases may be joined for trial when the alleged crimes are based on the same act or or a series of actions.
The law favors trying such cases together, according to the North Carolina Superior Court Judges’ Benchbook, which is published by the School of Government.
But a separation “should be granted when codefendants’ positions are so conflicting that a joint trial would be more of a contest between the defendants than between the codefendants and the State,” the judges’ guide states.
Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 11:31 AM.
