u/Common-Drama-9858

I will preface this by stating that I am not American. I have not set foot on American soil since about 2008. I have no, zero, nil, inside information. I am merely speculating based on whatever info has been released to the public.

Some people are theorising that the NYPD used illegal electronic surveillance to track “Mark Rosario” to Altoona from New York. I will write this scenario as if they didn’t do that. (They might have, but this scenario works even if they didn’t).

It is the morning of December 9^(th) 2024. Altoona, Pennsylvania. “Mark Rosario” is walking alone on empty streets. It is raining heavily. He has been sleeping outdoors for a few days. But the rain has prompted him to book a room in a motel. He goes to the motel, but the room isn’t ready. There is a sofa in the motel foyer, but Mark doesn’t wait there. He leaves the motel. (Did the concierge kick him out in the rain? We don’t know. There’s no audio available).

Mark is cold and hungry and it is still raining. He goes to a fast food place, McDonald’s, and orders warm food. Mark is wearing a hat and a face mask so the eyes are the only thing people can see of his face.

Somebody calls the cops and says there is a guy in McDonald’s that looks like the Manhattan shooter.

A bunch of Altoona cops congregate in the McDonald’s. They already think Mark is the Manhattan shooter, basing this certainty on Mark’s bushy dark eyebrows. The Altoona PD is immediately in contact with New York PD, before they even take Mark out of the McDonald’s.

Altoona PD to NYPD: “We have a guy that looks like your shooter. He uses a fake ID, Mark Rosario”.

NYPD: “Great, we have the name of a Mark Rosario who stayed at a hostel here in Manhattan. What does he look like?”

Altoona PD: “5’10”, slim, bushy dark eyebrows”.

NYPD: “Great, that’s close enough”.

Altoona PD: “He doesn’t have a gun on him”.

NYPD: “That’s OK, we have the gun here so just hold him until we get there”.

Then someone in Altoona PD has a genius idea. The year before, an Altoona cop had been arrested and charged with making 3D guns. They have a bunch of his 3D guns in storage. Why not plant one of those guns on Mark?

Altoona’s Officer Wasser drives Mark’s backpack to the police station, and on the way there she turns off her body camera and stops for a bit. Another cop has brought a stand-in 3D gun to their rendezvous point, and they put the stand-in gun in Mark’s backpack. Officer Wasser turns her body camera on again, and “miraculously” finds a gun in Mark’s backpack when she gets to the station.

Mark Rosario is transported to the police station in a separate car from the backpack, so that he can’t see what is happening to his backpack.

Altoona PD books Mark at around 10am in the morning, and puts him in a holding cell at the police station. Altoona PD then contacts NYPD again.

Altoona PD: “We are in luck. This Mark Rosario guy is homeless. Nobody cares about him. His parents moved and they didn’t tell him where they moved. Not even his own parents care about him”.

NYPD: “Fantastic news. He will get an overworked public defender who will only have time to do the bare minimum for his defense. We are on our way”.

Meanwhile in New York, corrupt NYPD Officer Diaz is tasked with transporting the real 3D gun from New York to Altoona. It takes Officer Diaz a few hours to get to Altoona.

Once Officer Diaz is in Altoona they swap the two guns. The stand-in gun on Officer Wasser’s body camera is switched for the real gun from New York. In the afternoon/evening the backpack inventory is completed, with the real 3D gun from New York.

Poor Mark Rosario’s fate is sealed. Law enforcement are happy that they have someone arrested. Now the higher ups will stop yelling at them since the target of the shooting was a person who was important, unlike the other hundreds of murders in New York every year. Does it matter that Mark didn’t actually have the gun on him when he was arrested? No, since no one will care about homeless Mark.

I want to remind all of you that the prosecution will have to prove in court that this scenario did NOT happen. Can they do that?

1. Why was Mark Rosario transported in a different vehicle to his backpack?

2. What was Officer Wasser doing when her body camera was turned off during the backpack transport?

3. Why did NYPD send a corrupt cop to Altoona?

4. Why did the inventory take all day?

So much reasonable doubt throughout the entire day. The burden of proof is on the prosecution, not the defense. Can anyone else find more custody chain holes on this day? These are the ones I found. I'm sure I missed some.

This article does a good job of breaking down and explaining the defense/prosecution arguments on suppression issues. Highly reccommend reading it to get a good understanding of what Judge Carro is going to be ruling on, and if you don't want to read through 100+ pages of legal arguments.

I'm soooo curious and anxious to see what decision he made. Monday cannot come fast enough.