MIAMI (Court TV) — The trial is underway for a man accused of murdering a bicyclist out riding with a group and threatening a second man.
Kadel Piedrahita is charged with the murder of a bicyclist in Florida. (Miami-Dade Jail)
Kadel Piedrahita is charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of Alexis Palencia and aggravated assault with a firearm for allegedly threatening Cesar Sosa during an incident on Aug. 14, 2019.
In court records reviewed by Court TV, investigators say that Piedrahita shot Palencia once in the stomach on the Rickenbacker Causeway before turning to Cesar Sosa, pointing the gun at him and yelling profanities. Sosa ran away from the scene and was not injured. Witnesses, who told police they knew Piedrahita through their cycling group, identified him as the killer.
Piedrahita was well-known to the cycling group, known as the “Don Pan Riders” because he often would ride beside them on his motorcycle to help protect them, the Key Biscayne Independent reported. Assistant State Attorney Arvind Singh told the outlet that there had been a dispute between the two men before the shooting involving insurance. Palencia either sold or brokered insurance, and Piedrahita allegedly blamed him for a lapse in his coverage.
The confrontation was recorded, as Piedrahita had been live-streaming the ride before the deadly shooting. In a statement after his arrest, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said, “I have seen the video images of this incident and I am extremely bothered by the images I saw.”
Piedrahita has gone through a number of attorneys in the case, and despite one of the attorneys alluding to a “stand your ground” defense to local media, no motions identifying that as a defense strategy were ever filed. Piedrahita wrote a letter to the court claiming he acted in self-defense. The letter, obtained by the Key Biscayne Independent, said he was a prisoner of a “corrupt system” and a victim of “political and social manipulation of physical and circumstantial evidence. … I had to use my legal, registered gun to exercise my 2nd constitutional right to bear arms and protect my life.”
DAILY TRIAL UPDATES
DAY 3 – 9/10/24
- Jurors heard the cross-examination and re-direct of Cesar Sosa.
- Sosa is the subject of Count 2: Aggravated Assault for Piedrahita allegedly pointing his gun at Sosa and threatening him after he shot Alex Palencia
- The defense went through the video, almost frame by frame, to highlight where the players were when Alexis Palencia was shot.
DAY 2 – 9/9/24
- Two eyewitnesses took the stand, and the jury saw videos of the incident.
DAY 1 – 9/5/24
- The prosecution and defense delivered opening statements.
- Two officers who responded to the scene testified
