An Allentown jury convicted a 32-year-old man in the fatal shooting of Orlando Ibanez, with a two-word cellphone message emerging as one of the prosecution’s most memorable pieces of evidence. The verdict Thursday brings a nearly three-year-old homicide case to its trial-stage conclusion, though sentencing is still ahead.
Evander Thompson was found guilty of criminal homicide, first-degree murder, and carrying a firearm without a license following a three-day trial before Lehigh County Judge Robert L. Steinberg, according to Daily Voice. He faces a mandatory life sentence without parole, with sentencing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 14.
Surveillance And Ballistics Helped Convict Thompson
Allentown police responded just before 2 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2023, to a second-floor apartment in the 500 block of West Allen Street, where Ibanez was found with a gunshot wound to the neck. The Lehigh County Coroner’s Office ruled the 58-year-old New York City native’s death a homicide, and Thompson was later charged after investigators linked him to the scene, according to Lehigh Valley Public Media.
Prosecutors presented surveillance footage showing Thompson entering the building shortly before the shooting and running away minutes later, along with additional video showing him walking from his home to the scene and returning afterward. A court-approved search of his cellphone showed that he texted his paramour “he dead” while walking away, while bar receipts placed him at a nearby establishment before the killing.
The evidence also included a handgun found in the possession of the paramour’s minor son, a video showing Thompson holding a firearm consistent with the murder weapon, and forensic testing that linked the gun to both a shell casing recovered at the scene and the bullet removed during Ibanez’s autopsy, Daily Voice reported.
Life Without Parole Awaits If Sentence Holds
Pennsylvania law provides that a first-degree murder conviction is punishable by death or life imprisonment, with the sentencing process governed by state law. The relevant statute also requires a separate sentencing proceeding after a first-degree murder verdict, according to the Pennsylvania Legislature.
For now, Thompson remains headed toward an October sentencing hearing in Lehigh County. The case began with a late-night shooting in Allentown and ended at trial with investigators asking jurors to connect surveillance video, firearm testing, cellphone data, and a stark message sent moments after Ibanez was killed.
