Man accused of killing Wake deputy seeks bail, evidence. Here’s what happened.

One of two brothers charged with killing a Wake deputy in August asked a judge Thursday to consider bail and force prosecutors to more quickly provide evidence in the case.

Arturo Marin-Sotelo, 29, appeared in court Thursday afternoon for the hearing. He is charged with murdering Wake deputy sheriff Ned Byrd in August.

But the attorney for Marin-Sotelo ended up withdrawing the request for setting bail after he learned that his client, who was in the country illegally, was also being held on a federal detainer.

Judge Paul Ridgeway said he would wait until a mid-December hearing to see how much of the requested evidence had been provided and decide then whether to order prosecutors to share it on a rolling basis.

Byrd, a K-9 officer and 13-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, was found on the ground outside his unmarked Sheriff’s Office SUV around 1 a.m. on Aug. 12, near a gas station on the rural road. He had multiple gunshot wounds.

Marin-Sotelo’s younger brother, Alder, 26, is also charged in Byrd’s death. If convicted, the two brothers could face life in prison or the death penalty.

Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told The News & Observer Thursday that evidence relevant to deciding whether to pursue the death penalty is still being gathered, and she expects a decision in about 30 days.

Arturo Marin-Sotelo claims innocence

The brothers were ordered in August to be held without the option of bail in separate first court appearances on the murder charges.

In a court filing, Arturo Marin-Sotelo’s attorney says his client is innocent of the murder charge.

“Defendant did not participate in the murder of Deputy Ned Byrd,” states the filing. “He has cooperated with law enforcement since his initial contact with detectives, including providing a statement detailing his knowledge about the killing of Byrd.”

Defense attorney Jay Ferguson’s said that Arturo Marin-Sotelo was indicted on Aug. 23, but Ferguson hasn’t received any of the evidence prosecutors have against his client beyond search warrants.

When Arturo Marin-Sotelo was interviewed by detectives, he said he was walking in a field toward the woods deer hunting when he heard gun shots and called his brother to find out what happened, according to court documents.

“The GPS data, if obtained by law enforcement, in conjunction with other evidence, such as telephone records and dash camera video, will verify and corroborate defendant’s statements to detectives that he was not involved with the shooting,” the filing states.

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Latour said that multiple agencies are involved in the investigation.

Investigators are still gathering evidence.

“For them to provide that information before they are fully done kind of makes it a bit difficult on them to perform their and complete their investigations,” he said.

The night of the killing

Search warrants made public in late September indicate Byrd was on duty and driving on the evening of Aug. 11 to the Wake County Law Enforcement Training Center when he saw a suspicious pickup truck on the side of Battle Bridge Road. The rural two-lane road in southeast Raleigh is lined with fences and pastures.

Surveillance video from a nearby Marathon gas station shows a single cab pickup truck back up against a fence on the left side of Battle Bridge Road at 11:03 p.m., the warrants state.

Byrd drove by about 30 minutes later, backed up and stopped with the front of vehicle angling toward the truck.

About 13 seconds after Byrd steps out of his vehicle with his flashlight, three rapid-fire gunshots are heard and then three more.

At 11:09 p.m. the pickup is seen pulling out and crossing Battle Bridge Road.

Byrd was found shot multiple times outside of his unmarked Sheriff’s Office about two hours later.

Investigators identified the brothers after analyzing cell tower data and cell phone usage in the area where Byrd was found, according to the warrants.

The cell phone data showed that after the gun shots, a phone used by Alder Marin-Sotelo traveled back to a South Fisher Street home in Raleigh that he visited before the killing. Arturo Marin-Sotelo later told officials that he lived there.

Alder Marin-Sotelo then traveled back to the shooting scene in a different vehicle around midnight on Aug. 12 to pick up his brother, according to the warrants. They both returned to the Fisher Street home.

After law enforcement officials identified the brothers, they followed them and arrested them on Aug. 16 on Interstate 40 near Morganton in Burke County.

Brother speaks to investigators

After the arrest, Arturo Marin-Sotelo told investigators that the night of Byrd’s killing, Alder drove them in his red pickup truck out to a field on Battle Bridge Road to hunt for deer.

Arturo Marin-Sotelo got out and walked through the woods carrying an AK-47 rifle while his brother stayed with the truck, the warrant states.

Arturo Marin-Sotelo was in the field when he saw a vehicle activate blue lights where his brother was parked, he told police.

Arturo Marin-Sotelo heard gunshots and saw the pickup pulling away, he told police, the warrant states. He then called his brother. “Alder Marin stated that a police officer had just been shot,” the warrant states.

Arrest warrants charging the men with murder were issued on Aug. 17, according to Wake County court documents.

When law enforcement took Alder Marin-Sotelo into custody, they charged him with “possession of a firearm by an illegal alien” that stemmed from a 2021 traffic stop by a state trooper in Chapel Hill..

Federal court documents indicate that Alder Marin-Sotelo is planning to plead guilty to that or a similar charge, but don’t indicate when the plea hearing is set to take place.

(The News & Observer staff reporter Colleen Hammond contributed to this report.)