SALEM — The trial of Lynn man Marcus Carlisle, 25, and Everett man Tyrell Berberena, 27 — accused of murdering Lynner Noe Hernandez in a drive-by shooting — began at Salem Superior Court Tuesday afternoon.
At approximately 10 p.m. July 4, 2020, Lynn Police responded to reports of numerous gunshots at a cookout outside 134 Fayette St. There, Hernandez and four other individuals, were found shot. Hernandez was transported to Salem Hospital where he was pronounced dead, and one of the other individuals would be paralyzed from the waist down.
After Justice Salim Tabit provided the 15 jurors with an overview of their roles in the case, prosecutor Susan Dolhun approached the jury for her opening statement.
Dolhun told the jury that the Commonwealth had sufficient video, DNA, cellphone, and witness evidence to prove that Elijah Fontes-Wilson drove Carlisle, Berberena, and Josue Cespedes— all alleged members of the Tiny Rascals Gang — to and from the scene of the crime.
She referred to a white rental Ford pickup truck allegedly used in the shooting as the “murder truck,” and claimed that the four men were under the impression that the victims were members of “Trinitarios,” a rival street gang. Dolhun alleged that Carlisle instructed those in the truck to put on “these haunting black ski masks with two holes cut out to the eyes and one hole cut out for the mouth.”
“Carlisle racks the slide on a gun, Tyrell Berberena cocks his gun, and then at 9:57 p.m., the murder truck approaches Fayette Street,” Dolhun said. “Elijah Fontes-Wilson stops the truck outside of 134 Fayette St. Marcus Carlisle and Tyrell Bereberena, hanging outside the passenger side windows, begin firing their guns over and over and over again, directly into this crowd of terrified, unsuspecting and unarmed innocent party-goers. 20 shots total.”
Dolhun said that Fontes-Wilson then drove away, stopping at a separate cookout 24-26 Union Court, and abandoning the truck at Union Place.
When police responded to reports of the Ford pickup blocking a resident’s driveway July 5, they discovered shell casings in the truck bed and signs of ballistic impacts on the passenger window. Fontes-Wilson, who Dolhun said rented the truck on behalf of Carlisle, falsely reported it stolen after police had already towed it.
Dolhun said that Fontes-Wilson, who will testify as a witness for the Commonwealth, cooperated with police, identifying Carlisle, Berberena, and Cespedes as co-conspirators.
“Elijah Fontes-Wilson initially came forward to the police with this information before he was offered any cooperation agreement, before he had been charged with any crime, before he had the many promises of what sentences he might receive or charges might be put to him,” Dolhun said.
In his opening statement, Carlisle’s attorney James Krasnoo urged the jury to study the evidence carefully before presuming the defendants guilty. He said that while the drive-by shooting was undeniably horrific, his client is innocent.
“You have to decide not whether or not that drive-by shooting, unpardonable and despicable as it was, was horrible,” Krasnoo said. “You have to decide whether or not Marcus Carlisle and Tyrell Berberena participated in the act of shooting and were in the truck at the time it engaged in the drive-by shooting.”
Krasnoo said that the jury should be wary of any DNA evidence recovered from a blunt found inside the truck, and that the prosecution could not prove that the blunt was smoked on the day of the shooting.
Krasnoo argued that DNA evidence could not determine the date the blunt was smoked on.
“Interestingly, despite the fact that Elijah meets with police constantly, over and over again on July 7, on July 10, in multiple meetings with police never once does he say that the blunt was smoked on July 4,” Krasnoo said.
Krasnoo also argued that reports of calls between the four men could be explained by the fact that they were all close friends and called one another somewhat regularly.
He also stated that police could not find incriminating text messages that Fontes-Wilson had mentioned during his meetings with them
“Would you believe that when they go through his phone, then he tries to find the messages that he claims talk about the things they say after they participated in the shooting, about cleaning up the car, or getting rid of the car or extending the rental on the car, none of those can be found,” Krasnoo said.
When Brian Kelley, Berberena’s attorney, delivered his opening statement he argued that none of his client’s DNA nor any of his fingerprints could be found in the pickup truck.
He said that outside of Fontes-Wilson’s testimony, no other witnesses confirmed that Berberena was in the truck that day or anywhere near the scene of the crime.
“They don’t find a single cell of Mr. Berberena’s DNA in that car, they don’t find a single fingerprint of Mr. Berberena in that car,” Kelley said. “Notice they don’t have a single witness outside of this witness, Mr. Wilson, that sees Mr. Berberena that night at a party, or in his car, or anywhere near where they claim he was.”
Kelley added that no ballistic evidence linked Berberena to a gun, and that cell towers in the area did not connect to his client’s cellphone.
Fontes-Wilson’s statements to the police, Kelley said, could not be considered credible since Fontes-Wilson filed a false police report about the truck and was motivated to protect himself by pushing blame onto the defendants in the hopes of a reduced sentence.
“They have one single witness, Elijah Fontes-Wilson, and his relationship with the truth I think you’re going to find to be a big problem in this case,” Kelley said. “He goes to the police station and the very first thing he does is lie. The government gave him this agreement, which I’m going to say is a motive to lie — a motive to distance himself from the view of everything, and to blame it on someone else.”
Two audience members walked out of the courtroom in tears while Dolhun played the prosecution’s first piece of evidence — a 911 call in which a woman at the Fayette Street cookout yelled “Hurry, hurry … he’s going to die!”
Before Dolhun played the second 911 call, Tabit asked the jury to leave the room, and reminded the audience that he will not allow “emotional outbursts” in the courtroom.
Tabit adjourned the trial after Dolhun submitted phone records as evidence.
The trial will continue at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Salem Superior Court.
