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Coach K says he is returning to coach Duke Saturday vs. Pitt

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Huge GE turbine being hauled from upstate NY to power plant near Scranton

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The girlfriend of a man killed in a barrage of bullets two years ago on a Hazleton street told jurors Thursday the alleged killer told her he&#8217;d been ripped off and vowed to do something about it.</p><p>The testimony of Jaime Bonner in Rafael Mora-Polanco&#8217;s homicide trial echoed that of Divine Herrera-Caudle, a confidential informant who said he was there when Mora-Polanco accused him and the victim of trying to &#8220;burn him&#8221; over an eight ball of cocaine.</p><p>But Herrera-Caudle said Mora-Polanco got it all wrong.</p><p>&#8220;He misinterpreted it and thought we were trying to burn him,&#8221; Herrera-Caudle said.</p><p>Prosecutors allege Mora-Polanco, angered over the incident, shot Jorge Marrero six times on June 11, 2015. Marrero, 35, was shot twice, once in the back and again above the left eye, before he fled across Alter Street in Hazleton and onto West 4th Street, where he met his end behind a second hail of bullets.</p><p>Herrera-Caudle, 22, said he and Marrero planned to pay Mora-Polanco for the eight ball by &#8220;flipping&#8221; the drugs themselves. He said Mora-Polanco appeared to think they were trying to rip him off and &#8220;snatched back&#8221; the drugs, remarking, &#8220;I got something for you two (expletive). I got something for you and (Marrero).&#8221;</p><p>Mora-Polanco appeared &#8220;very aggressive,&#8221; Herrera-Caudle said.</p><p>Bonner, 37, said Mora-Polanco called her the day of the shooting, miffed over the deal, and told her &#8220;he was tired of everyone thinking he was a (expletive), and he was about to show everyone how much of a (expletive) he was.&#8221; She said she brushed off the comment and told Mora-Polanco to &#8220;smoke a blunt&#8221; with Marrero and work their problems out, adding it wasn&#8217;t unusual for the pair to bicker and move on.</p><p>Mora-Polanco, 28, wanted to know where Marrero was, so Bonner told him he was at an apartment on Alter Street, the site where multiple witnesses have testified they watched the victim and Mora-Polanco walk out of the day of the shooting before hearing gunfire.</p><p>Bonner, who told jurors she was a drug dealer and longtime addict, tried to drive to the hospital after she learned Marrero had been shot, but was pulled over by state troopers, who asked her to come to Hazleton City Hall to help identify the victim. While troopers had her pulled over, she injected multiple bags of heroin, she said.</p><p>&#8220;I was on a lot of drugs at the time,&#8221; Bonner said.</p><p>Herrera-Caudle, meanwhile, said he awoke after two or three days of sleep from a nearly two-week-long crack cocaine binge to learn Marrero had been killed.</p><p>Defense attorney Frank McCabe noted inconsistencies between Herrera-Caudle&#8217;s testimony and a statement he gave to police, in which he said he learned of Marrero&#8217;s death the day after their drug deal with Mora-Polanco. Herrera-Caudle had testified the incident happened four or five days earlier.</p><p>Herrera-Caudle chalked the lapse up to being &#8220;strung out on crack cocaine.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I was on drugs,&#8221; Herrera-Caudle said, adding it wasn&#8217;t uncommon for him to be awake for days at a time and then sleep for days while in the midst of a crack binge.</p><p>&#8220;So it wasn&#8217;t the next calendar day, it was the next day in the life of a crackhead?&#8221; McCabe asked, appearing incredulous.</p><p>Earlier Thursday, more eyewitnesses testified they watched Mora-Polanco chase Marrero across Alter Street from a nearby apartment and said they refused to call police out of fear they&#8217;d be harmed as well.</p><p>The witnesses to the shooting have each acknowledged being heavy drug users, but denied that it affected their ability to perceive the events.</p><p>Prosecutors have called nearly 30 witnesses over the course of the trial&#8217;s first four days. They are expected to continue making their case Friday.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Mora-Polanco </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_Rafael-Mora-Polanco-6-14-15-cmyk-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Mora-Polanco </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Heavy drug use, perceived rip-off attempt highlight testimony in homicide trial