May 8—Prosecutors said they have video of a deadly shooting in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood last fall.
Attorneys discussed the recording Thursday during a court hearing for a second person charged in connection with the death, who prosecutors say helped the suspect leave the scene before police arrived.
Edgar Cando, 31, was shot multiple times on Portland Street in October and later died at Maine Medical Center, police said. An obituary notes he was a father, and that his family will miss him for his “kind spirit, resilience and compassion.”
Police charged 21-year-old Omar Abd Elkader last year with murder in his death. And a grand jury recently indicted 29-year-old Savoy Boyd with one count of hindering apprehension or prosecution, a Class B offense.
Boyd denied the state’s allegations during an arraignment Thursday morning in Cumberland County Superior Court. Her attorney argued briefly that she actually encouraged the “primary suspect,” apparently referring to Abd Elkader, to turn himself in after the shooting, contrary to the state’s allegations.
Abd Elkader pleaded not guilty in February and his attorney Matthew Crockett declined to discuss the details of the case that were shared during Boyd’s hearing, saying it would be inappropriate to comment on another defendant’s case.
Crockett said he and co-counsel Andrew Edwards are still waiting on discovery materials from the state and are preparing Abd Elkader’s defense.
Police documents detailing the probable cause for both suspects’ arrests were not available following Thursday’s hearing, when some case details were made public for the first time.
Boyd’s attorney, Roger Brunelle, Jr., told the court that the “primary defendant” had used Boyd’s weapon, but that she otherwise had nothing to do with the shooting. Brunelle said the shooting was retaliation for an assault.
He argued that it was his client who persuaded the other defendant to turn himself in within hours of the shooting.
“Any allegations she tried to hinder prosecution are false,” he said in court. “This is not a premeditated attack. There’s no evidence at all she had anything to do with this incident. … We understand that the charges are serious, but ultimately we believe the evidence is thin.”
Assistant Attorney General Kate Bozeman said their evidence is actually quite strong, citing video footage of Boyd standing “beside the defendant as he follows and shoots a man on Portland Street in broad daylight.”
Bozeman said the two left the scene of the shooting in a car. No video evidence was played in court.
District Judge Jed French lowered Boyd’s bail from $50,000 to $7,500 and barred her from contacting Abd Elkader, who is being held in the Cumberland County Jail.
Until recently, Boyd was in California. The state suggested she might be a flight risk but Brunelle said his client was visiting family and that she will now stay in Maine.
Brunelle also said that when Boyd was informed she was being charged in mid-April, she wasn’t given a return date or any other details about the allegations. French had to unseal a copy of her indictment so that she could view it Thursday morning.
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