Judge Denies Dismissal in Social Club Shootout

An eastern Pennsylvania judge has declined to dismiss charges against two men accused in a shootout at a social club that killed a woman and injured five other people.
 
33-year-old Rene Figueroa and 39-year-old Javier Rivera-Alvarado are charged in Northampton County in the December 2012 slaying of 23-year-old Yolanda Morales outside the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society in Bethlehem.
 
The (Easton) Express-Times reports that Judge Anthony Beltrami on Monday dismissed a defense bid to toss out all charges against the defendants and also refused to bar consideration of the death penalty against Figueroa, accused by prosecutors of having fired the fatal shot.
 
Defense attorneys argued that a key witness misidentified the defendants during a preliminary hearing, but the judge ruled that prosecutors had enough evidence to support the charges.