A Pennsylvania killer serving life in prison for fatally shooting a man on a city street has lost his bid for a new trial, prosecutors announced on Thursday, Oct. 1.
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania rejected an appeal from Wilberto Melendez, who was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 31-year-old William Earl Cooper Jr., according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.
Melendez had sought a new trial after a Lancaster County jury convicted him following a four-day trial in April 2025. The conviction came after two earlier trials, in 2019 and 2021, ended in mistrials…