Hackensack man accused of lying during murder trial has release revoked
After being granted pretrial release three years ago on lesser charges in a murder trial, one of the co-defendants will see his freedom revoked now that he faces more serious charges.
Dylan Rodriguez, of Hackensack, now faces perjury and felony murder charges in addition to hindering, weapons and drug charges in connection with the killing of Daniel Duque-Soto three years ago.
Rodriguez appeared before state Superior Court Judge Margaret Foti on Monday for a determination of whether he would be remanded to the Bergen County Jail on the serious charges and the revocation of his pretrial release related to his earlier charges.
Duque-Soto was killed in an alleged armed robbery gone wrong on June 29, 2019, in Fairview, and Lexie Burke, of North Bergen,was accused of being the mastermind behind the plot to rob the 23-year-old Fairview man. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge a month into his trial, just days after Rodriguez testified against him.
Rodriguez is accused of lying during his testimony at the trial of Burke. He told the court he tried to dissuade his co-defendants from going back to Duque-Soto's apartment.
"Rodriguez's words don't ring true in regard to certain material elements in which he testified," said Assistant Prosecutor Suzanne Cevasco.
Cevasco said that after Burke's plea, he provided a statement that accused Rodriguez of providing one of the weapons used in Duque-Soto's killing. Cevasco said investigators pulled from Rodriguez's phone multiple text messages to co-defendant David Martinez that referred to a robbery and that Rodriguez has a $250 "rental fee" for his 9mm Glock. Martinez is the alleged getaway driver.
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Rodriguez allegedly sent a message to Martinez the day after the killing instructing him to go to his house with the gun.
"I, quite frankly, cannot think of a stronger attempt to obstruct justice than [Rodriguez] engaged in here," Cevasco said. "He gave us a proffered statement that was apparently untrue, got on the stand and lied to a jury about the series of events that lead to a death."
Rodriguez's attorney, Nathan Kittner, attempted to argue that there was nothing in his client's behavior that suggested he wouldn't show up for hearings or be a danger to the community, but Foti didn't agree.
Foti said Rodriguez was before her several times for pretrial release violations, which was troubling for her, in addition to his standing before a jury and the court and allegedly lying about his involvement in the robbery and homicide.
Rodriguez has seven days to appeal the ruling.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fairview murder trial: NJ man accused of lying has release revoked
