ALFRED — The third man charged in the shooting death of a Biddeford man in 2013 pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy Friday and was ordered held without bail.
Mohamud Mohamed, 21, of Portland turned himself in to authorities in Portland on Thursday, accompanied by his attorney, Thomas Hallett.
Police have charged two other men in connection with the killing of Charles Raybine, 47, in what police say was a drug-related shooting on March 26, 2013, in Biddeford.
John Lopez, 20, of Old Orchard Beach was charged in April. Bub Peter Nguany was arrested within hours of the shooting.
Mohamed said nothing at his arraignment in York County Superior Court in Alfred, as he stood dressed in a striped, button-down shirt and dress pants with Hallett at his side. Hallett entered the not guilty pleas on his client’s behalf.
Justice Paul Fritzsche ordered Mohamed held without bail at the York County Jail until his attorney requests a bail harnish hearing to determine whether Mohamed should be granted bail.
While only one man pulled the trigger, according to witness statements in a previously released court affidavit, the others also are responsible, Assistant Attorney General John Alsop said Thursday.
Authorities have not said why they delayed charging Lopez and Mohamed for two years.
Hallett, speaking Friday outside the courthouse, said police interviewed Mohamed after Raybine’s death and let him go free.
“I’m a little surprised in all honesty why he’s being charged at this late stage,” Hallett said. “I think it indicates a scarcity of evidence.”
Hallett declined to say what role police are alleging his client played in Raybine’s death.
Police were called at 1 a.m. on the morning of the shooting to Parish Place Apartments in Biddeford, where they found Raybine shot several times in the face with a .45-caliber handgun.
Police said Raybine was known to abuse drugs and, based on witness statements, was smoking crack cocaine and drinking while playing cards in an apartment at 41 Birch St. in Biddeford before the shooting.
At one point during the night, Raybine, who lived elsewhere in Biddeford, and his nephew, Morgan Palmer, went outside and sat in Raybine’s car, although a Maine State Police affidavit does not say why. Two cars pulled up, one on either side of the parking lot.
Palmer told police that a man got out of the passenger seat of one of the cars, a dark Toyota Prius, and walked over to Raybine’s car. Palmer described the man as 6 feet tall, 175 to 200 pounds, black, wearing a baseball cap and dark jacket, and possibly a hooded sweatshirt, according to court papers. The man pointed to Palmer and asked, “Yo, who you with, who’s this?” the affidavit says. Raybine answered, “That’s Mo.” The man then fired a gun at Raybine’s face.
An autopsy showed that Raybine died of multiple gunshots to the head and neck.
Nguany was arrested hours after Raybine’s death as he tried to leave his Old Orchard Beach home in a taxi. An Old Orchard Beach police officer had arrested Nguany two days earlier in a traffic stop and recognized him from a witness’s description of one of Raybine’s killers.
After the shooting, police obtained surveillance camera footage from several banks on Main Street in Biddeford and from another business that showed the Prius and another car traveling one after another around 12:20 a.m., about 40 minutes before the shooting and less than a half mile away, according to a police affidavit unsealed Friday afternoon
Police found the rental agreement for the Prius at Nguany’s apartment with Lopez’s name listed as the renter. Police also discovered that the second vehicle had been loaned to Lopez by a friend, state police Detective Lauren Edstrom said in the newly unsealed affidavit that she filed seeking warrants for Lopez’s and Mohamed’s arrests.
Police subsequently obtained search warrants for cellphone records that showed text messages between Lopez, Mohamed and Nguany during the day before the shooting talking about getting a “heater” and getting “heated up,” which Edstrom wrote she concluded was a reference to a gun.
Police had sought Mohamed since April, shortly after he was released from the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, where he was being held on unrelated charges. His last known address was in Kennedy Park in Portland.
Mohamed met with and retained Hallett on Thursday and the attorney arranged for Mohamed to surrender to state police in front of the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland.
Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:
Twitter: scottddolan
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