Jury finds man accused in 2019 killing of cyclist guilty on all counts

By Michael Hudak, Kevin Boulandier and Julian Quintana

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    MIAMI (WSVN) — A jury on Monday found a 46-year-old man who is accused in the 2019 fatal shooting of a cyclist on the Rickenbacker Causeway guilty on all counts.

Kadel Piedrahita is accused of shooting and killing 48-year-old Alexis Palencia on the causeway on Aug. 14, 2019.

The jury deliberated for a few hours on Monday before coming to their decision.

After reviewing several videos shown in court, the jury found Piedrahita guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a firearm.

“We the jury find as follows as to count one of the charge, the defendant is guilty of second-degree murder. The defendant is guilty of aggravated assault with a firearm,” said a jury member.

Prosecutors hailed the jury’s decision as a huge success as, they say, it was five years in the making.

Following the verdict, the jury foreman, Marc Stone, spoke to 7News about the deliberations inside the room.

“There were two things that we had to look at: the first was whether there was, it could’ve been self-defense. In the end, we felt there was no reasonable possibility that the victim had a gun or was pointing a gun,” said Stone. “The second part was the standard for second-degree murder was his state of mind. Did he show a depraved indifference to human life? And that’s actually what we talked about. He really didn’t have to do what he did.”

On Monday, the prosecution and defense made their final arguments to the jury.

“The only expression on his face is murder,” said a prosecutor.

Lawyers for Piedrahita argued during the trial that he was defending himself when he shot and killed Palencia.

“How do we know that Mr. Piedrahita was attacked by multiple people, that one of those individuals became armed? He says ‘Fight already!’” said Piedrahita’s lawyer during Monday’s closing statements.

They said Piedrahita and Palencia had bad blood brewing for up to a year before the crime occurred as they both routinely rode in the same cycling group. It remains unclear what the bad blood brewed from.

The defense said that either Palencia or another cyclist he was with had a gun, but that alleged second gun was never found by police.

But the jury didn’t buy the defense’s argument on Monday evening when they reached their guilty verdict against Piedrahita.

Stone said the lack of a second firearm gave them narrow choices.

“So with no gun, that really left us to whether or not there was any other behavior on the part of the victim, and others who were with the victim, that really could’ve put the defendant in fear of his life,” he said.

On Monday night, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released a statement regarding the guilty verdict:

The 2019 fatal shooting of bicyclist Alexis Palencia on the Rickenbacker Causeway appalled our entire community and particularly shocked members of Miami-Dade’s tight-knit bicycling community. Despite Kadel Piedrahita’s claim that he shot in self defense, the jury decided otherwise. They weighed all the evidence, heard all the testimony, and decided that Piedrahita was indeed guilty of 2nd-degree murder. I applaud the talented prosecutorial team of Assistant State Attorneys Arvind Singh and Conor Soper for effectively bringing forth the important case elements that drove Piedrahita to commit this senseless act of violence. I hope that the family of Alexis Palencia has gained some sense of justice with this verdict knowing that nothing can replace the senseless loss of a loved family member.

A sentencing date will be decided Tuesday in court.

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