A Lancaster County jury convicted a city man of criminal homicide after shooting a man to death in 2017 following a four-day trial this week.
The jury found Wilberto Melendez, formerly of the 700 block of Rockland Street, guilty on Friday of first-degree criminal homicide, firearms not to be carried without a license, possession of a firearm prohibited and intimidation of a witness.
Melendez, 48, shot 31-year-old William Earl Cooper Jr. following an argument in October 2017. Cooper died several hours later at a local hospital.
The Commonwealth initially took Melendez to trial in 2019 and again in 2021, though both efforts resulted in mistrials. Melendez has been held in state prison since 2022 while awaiting trial.
“We are glad to have successfully held Wilberto Melendez accountable for his actions in this case," said District Attorney Heather Adams. "I would like to again offer my condolences to the family of Will Cooper and thank the team that prosecuted this case and law enforcement for the incredible work they put in to achieve justice.”
In his closing argument First Assistant District Attorney Travis S. Anderson, who prosecuted the case alongside First Deputy Assistant District Attorney Cody Wade, urged the jury to reject both Melendez’s “patently ridiculous” version of events and efforts from the defense to poke holes in the memories of eyewitnesses who were recalling an incident from more than seven years ago.
Instead, Anderson encouraged the jury to believe the multiple eyewitnesses that placed Melendez at the scene of the crime with a gun in his hands.
“I ask you to bring this man to justice,” Anderson told the jury. “Hold him responsible for what he did. Find him guilty as charged.”
Melendez, Cooper and numerous other people had engaged in an argument at several locations in Lancaster city in the early morning hours of Oct. 27, 2017. Melendez, Cooper and another individual ultimately met in the 300 block of South Marshall Street to work out what happened, but instead Melendez shot at Cooper four times, striking him in the chest and abdomen.
Eyewitnesses testified seeing Melendez open fire on Cooper. Melendez then returned to his vehicle and drove away, the eyewitnesses testified. The testimony was corroborated by footage from the Lancaster Safety Coalition which did not capture the shooting itself, but clearly captured Melendez getting into the vehicle immediately after the shooting.
After the shooting Melendez contacted one of the eyewitnesses numerous times and attempted to bribe them with jewelry and by hiring an attorney for them as well as warning them that he “wouldn’t mind doing it again” if they went against his wishes.
But the eyewitness who Melendez intimidated nevertheless took the stand against him, testifying that he was the shooter.
The jury also heard about Melendez’s efforts to evade capture. Melendez attempted to flee to Canada and furnished fraudulent identification materials at a passport office in Philadelphia. At the time of his arrest in 2018 he was found in possession of a fraudulent driver’s license.
The jury reached a guilty verdict after about two hours of deliberation.
Judge Merrill Spahn, who presided over the trial, is scheduled to sentence Melendez in April, following completion of a presentence investigation. The crime of first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
Cpt. Robert Whiteford of the Lancaster Bureau of Police filed the charges.
