BIDDEFORD — A 20-year-old Old Orchard Beach man who has been charged with murder in the death of a Biddeford man entered no plea at York County Superior Court in Alfred Wednesday.

John Lopez was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder in the death of Charles Raybine, who was fatally shot outside of a Biddeford apartment complex more than two years ago. He is being held without bail at York County Jail in Alfred.

Dressed in a light blue shirt and gold tie, Lopez stood quietly before Justice Paul Fritzsche, with his attorney Robert Ruffner by his side, during the brief court appearance Wednesday morning.

Lopez was the second man to be charged with murder in Raybine’s death. Bub Peter Nguany, 27, of Old Orchard Beach, was charged just months after the shooting.

Most recently, on Wednesday afternoon, state police announced they had issued an arrest warrant charging Mohamud Mohamed, 21, with murder in the slaying. Police said Mohamed is a transient, but his last known address was in Portland.

Officials have declined to comment on why it took more than two years to charge Lopez and Mohamed with the crime. Maine State Police Spokesman Stephen McCausland also declined to answer Wednesday afternoon if more could be charged in the murder.

According to court documents, early on March 26, 2013, Raybine, 47, was shot three times in the face while sitting in a rental car in the parking lot of Parish Place Apart-ments, at 41 Birch St.

Police responded to the scene at about 1 a.m., after Raybine’s nephew, Morgan “Mo” Palmer, called 911, a state police detective’s affidavit states.

Palmer, then 21, told police he and Raybine had been playing cards, drinking and smoking crack in one of the apartments, according to

the affidavit.

When the two left the apartment and got into Raybine’s rental car, Palmer told police they saw two vehicles drive up to the parking lot. A black male got out of one of them, he said, approached their car and asked Raybine, “Yo, who you with, who’s this?” Raybine responded, “That’s Mo,” and then the man shot him in the face, he said.

Palmer’s description of the suspect led Old Orchard Beach Police Officer Scott Jarrett to Nguany, according to the affidavit. At about 9 a.m. that morning, Jarrett arrested Nguany as he was attempting to leave his East Grand Avenue residence in a taxi cab.

A search of Nguany’s backpack later yielded a .45-caliber handgun and ammunition matching the shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting, the affidavit states.

Nguany was charged with murder in Raybine’s death in June 2013, McCausland said in an email Tuesday. His trial was initially scheduled for next week, but it has since been pushed to a later date.

Minutes after Lopez’s arraignment Wednesday morning, Ruffner said a Harnish hearing may be scheduled, which would determine if enough evidence exists to keep holding Lopez without bail. Additionally, he predicted a grand jury would decide whether or not to indict his client on the murder charge in the coming weeks.

When asked if Lopez and Nguany will be tried jointly, Ruffner said it wouldn’t surprise him, but it’s too early to know for sure.

“The state would be the one who would move to joint (trial) on the two cases,” he said. “There is an analysis that goes forward in terms of whether it’s proper to try two defendants in the same trial.”

In an email Wednesday, Timothy Feeley, a spokesman for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, said Assistant Attorney Generals Matt Crockett and John Alsop are prosecuting both defendants.

“(It’s) too early to say whether (Lopez) will be tried together with Nguany,” he added.

When asked why Lopez is being charged more than two years after the shooting, Ruffner said he’s not entirely sure, but he believes the delay will ultimately benefit his client.

It suggests the state didn’t originally have enough evidence to charge Lopez, he said, “which can only be in my client’s favor.”

Ruffner also said the two-year delay has taken an emotional toll on Lopez, whom he had only just met an hour before the arraignment.

“Any criminal charge is difficult for someone to deal with. … For this to happen so many years later, I think it only makes it more difficult,” he said.

If convicted of murder, each man faces 25 years to life in prison.

Nguany’s attorney, Luke Rioux, could not be reached for comment by press time.

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].