Retrial Begins For Double Homicide In Warminster

WARMINSTER, PA —The retrial of a 41-year-old man for a double homicide in the township in October 2007 has begun.

Alfonso Sanchez went to trial in a Bucks County courtroom Monday on charges he fatally shot Lisa Diaz, 27, and Mendez Thomas, 22, in Warminster in 2007, said Manuel Gamiz, communications director for the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.

In 2008, Sanchez was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, the DA said. He later appealed his conviction and the District Attorney’s Office agreed to grant a retrial in 2017.

In addition to the retrial, Sanchez is also facing charges of plotting to have a key witness in the double homicide case killed, authorities said.

District Attorney Matt Weintraub is expected to join his prosecution team during the trial, the Bucks County Courier News reported.

Sanchez is charged with two counts of homicide, burglary, aggravated assault, and related offenses. In the second case, he is charged with four counts of solicitation to commit homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, witness intimidation, and solicitation and conspiracy of that offense, the newspaper reported.

Sanchez was among three people charged in the deaths of Diaz and Thomas.

Warminster police said Sanchez shot the victims at the Bucks Landing apartments on Street Road on Oct. 17, 2007. Sanchez allegedly shot them in the head at close range during a dispute over a crack cocaine debt, the newspaper said.

Last April, while awaiting retrial, Sanchez was sentenced to between 10 and 40 years in state prison for running a drug smuggling ring inside Bucks County Correctional Facility.

The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Sanchez conspired with at least 10 others to smuggle suboxone into the prison from May 2020 through December 2020.

Investigators found Sanchez was buying the strips for a couple of dollars each outside the jail and then selling them to incarcerated people for between $100 and $200 per strip, authorities said. They paid for the drugs through various means such as mobile payment apps, a change.org fund, and putting money directly on his books, authorities said.

Common Pleas Judge Brian T. McGuffin sentenced Sanchez to between 119 months and 480 months in state prison, along with 10 years of state probation, the DA said.