Philadelphia man sentenced to death in 2007 double homicide in Warminster.

A Philadelphia man found guilty of killing two people in a Warminster home more than 15 years ago was again sentenced to death in the murders this week.

On Wednesday, jurors sentenced Alfonso Sanchez to death for the first-degree murders of of killing Lisa Diaz, 27, and Mendez Thomas, 22, in Warminster in 2007. He was also found guilty of trying to have a witness killed while he was awaiting a retrial.

Sanchez was found guilty Monday following a week-long trial. After he was found guilty, prosecutors argued he should be sentenced to death for the killings.

The jury cited aggravating factors that justified the sentence, including Sanchez killing the two while committing another felony and causing a grave risk of death to others, according to the DA's office.

In his closing arguments Friday, District Attorney Matt Weintraub said the surviving victim has always maintained since that Sanchez was responsible for the attack that claimed the life of her sister and boyfriend.

“She told us who the murderer is: His name is Alfonso,” Weintraub said, playing the 911 call where she repeats the statement to a dispatcher.

The DA described the home as a “killing zone.” Weintraub said, “he turned this tiny apartment into his own shooting gallery in his murderous rampage.”

Co-defendant, Anthony Sparango, of Souderton, was initially scheduled to be tried next with him, however his trial was continued to a later date. County detectives allege Sparango had helped Sanchez while he was in prison trying to have a witness killed.

Sanchez, now 41, had been found guilty in 2008 of killing. In 2017, Sanchez was granted a new trial after it was discovered that DNA lab reports were not handed over to his attorneys during his initial trial, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said at the time.

Prosecutors said at the time that the failure was "inadvertence and oversight," in which both sides went to trial under the belief that no DNA testing was done.

Deputy District Attorney Matthew Lannetti told jurors during his opening statements on April 24 that Sanchez went to Mendez's Bucks Landing apartment home on Street Road the night of Oct. 17, 2007. Sanchez, along with Steven Miranda and Alexander Martinez went to Mendez's home under the guise of purchasing marijuana from him, according to Lanetti.

Miranda had some issue with Mendez, Lanetti said. When they arrived, they found Diaz, who was babysitting Mendez and his girlfriend's children. Mendez and his girlfriend showed up shortly after.

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Miranda and Sanchez had some brief altercation, prompting Sanchez to get in between them, according to Lanetti. They were broken up by Diaz, and Sanchez ran after Mendez as he walked away and shot him, he said.

"He kills him instantly," Lanetti said.

Sanchez then fatally shot Diaz for witnessing the killing, the deputy district attorney said. He shot Mendez's girlfriend, but she survived, Lanetti said.

The prosecutor said Miranda fled the apartment before the first shot was fired. Martinez fled shortly after.

Miranda and Martinez turned themselves in the next day. Sanchez was found hiding in a home in Montgomery County a week later.

Martinez, now 36, agreed to testify against the men in order to get a lesser sentence. He pleaded guilty to burglary in the case, and was paroled last year. Miranda, now 35, was found guilty of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to life in prison.

Lanetti told jurors that Sanchez, while in prison, tried to have a witness killed in the incident.

"Do people who are not guilty of crimes try to have the witness against the murdered?" he said. "The answer is no."

A Bucks County Detective testified that he listened to thousands of hours of prison calls, in which Sanchez used coded language to arrange the hit. In the calls, Sanchez ordered others to find the home or work address of the witness and have her “removed from the playing field.”

In defending the credibility of prosecution witnesses who had been involved in other crimes with Sanchez, Weintraub told the jury, “Crimes conceived in hell do not have angels for witnesses. But they do have witnesses."

Sanchez's defense attorney Francis Genovese told jurors the evidence would show that it was Miranda, not Sanchez, who was responsible for the killings. The men weren't at Mendez's home to hurt him, but to get more drugs, he said.

Miranda, he said, killed the two and injured a third in the shooting.

Genovese also told jurors that said some negative things about the witness while he was in prison, but never wanted to try to kill her.

Sanchez will be formally sentenced in both cases at a later date.

Death Penalty in PA

There have been no executions carried out in Pennsylvania since 1999, according to the state Department of Corrections.

In 2015, then-Gov. Tom Wolf announced he would grant temporary reprieves for scheduled executions until he has received and reviewed a report from the Pennsylvania Task Force Advisory Commission on Capital Punishment, and there is an opportunity to address concerns satisfactorily, according to the DOC.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said in February he would not issue any execution warrants during his term. He called on lawmakers to abolish the death penalty. He said he believes Pennsylvania should not be sentencing people to death.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Philly man sentenced to death again in 2007 Warminster double murder