The last of three men charged with killing a man during an attempted carjacking in Jersey City on July 10 pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned yesterday in Hudson County Superior Court.
Rafael A. Torres Jr., 27, of Country Village Road, appeared on charges of felony murder, carjacking, conspiracy and weapons offenses related to a firearm in connection to the homicide of Michael Siegel, 26, on Jewett Avenue.
Torres, who is in a wheelchair, was brought into court by a Hudson County Sheriff's officer and placed in the jury room for a pre-hearing conference with his attorney.
Defense attorney Daniel Welsh entered a not guilty plea on Torres' behalf.
Torres' co-defendants, Rashid A. Bronk, 22, of Bramhall Avenue, and Daniel Wilson, 23, of Grant Avenue, have been indicted on the same charges.
All three cases are being heard before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Bernadette DeCastro in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.
The Prosecutor's Homicide Unit, along with Jersey City police, arrested Torres on July 16 on Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City, near the building where Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop was meeting with local clergy to discuss a recent spate of violence.
The passenger in Siegel's vehicle told police a man "reached through the partially opened driver's side window, struggled with driver/victim, then shot the driver/victim as he attempted to drive away," according to all three criminal complaints.
The vehicle crashed into a parked car with Siegel suffering a gunshot wound to the head.
The complaints list probable cause for the charges against the three as being statements "by all three defendants admitting that they were present at the time of the commission of the crimes."
The complaints also say police have video footage "showing the defendants exiting Torres' automobile, then separately fleeing the area shortly thereafter."