Retrial set for suspect
in officer’s murder

The long-awaited retrial of a man charged with killing police officer Thomas Trench has been scheduled for later this month.
Jury selection will begin on April 28 in front of Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes for Wilfredo Santiago, accused of the 1985 murder of Trench. The prosecutor will be Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega.
Santiago, now 44, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1986, but was released in 1992 after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that police questioned him without a lawyer and a judge suppressed evidence.
However, Santiago was sent back to prison in November 2003 after a conviction on aggravated assault and other charges related to a domestic disturbance on Souder Street in Castor Gardens. He’s serving a sentence of 21 to 42 years.
Trench, who lived with his wife and two daughters on Ashville Street in Mayfair, was shot to death about 2:30 a.m. on May 28, 1985, as he sat in his squad car at 17th and Spring Garden streets. The 43-year-old officer was assigned to the 9th Police District and had been a cop for 11 years.
Authorities believe the shooting stemmed from a brawl the day before that involved Santiago. The officer who broke up the fight was in car 912, the vehicle Trench took when he began his shift at midnight.
In 1991, the state Superior Court ordered a new trial for Santiago after finding that the trial judge had committed misconduct.
On March 19, 1992, Santiago walked out of Holmesburg Prison after making bail.
In October 1992, a Common Pleas Court judge prohibited a retrial because of prosecutorial misconduct at trial.
In 1994, Superior Court overturned that decision and permitted a retrial.
Fourteen years later, the retrial will finally happen, and widow Mary Anne Trench Haggerty and her family will be in the Criminal Justice Center courtroom. They don’t expect it to be easy to hear testimony from that day in May 1985.
"Twenty-three years later we have to go through this again," Haggerty said. "I dread the thought of it."
At the same time, Haggerty is happy for the opportunity to see Santiago convicted again and re-sentenced to life in prison.
"I want him in jail," she said. ••