ALFRED — Six police officers presented testimony at York County Superior Court in Alfred Friday for the first of at least two hearings on motions to suppress evidence in a case involving the 2013 shooting death of a Biddeford man.

Bub Peter Nguany of Old Orchard Beach, John Lopez of Old Orchard Beach and Mohamud Mohamed, whose last known address was in Portland, have all been charged with murder in the slaying of Charles Raybine, who police say was shot in the face three times while sitting in a rental car in the parking lot of a Birch Street apartment in the early hours of March 26, 2013. Each man has pleaded not guilty to the crime.

Nguany, who matched the description a witness gave to police of the shooter, was arrested the same morning that Raybine was killed, as he was leaving the area of 42 East Grand Ave. in Old Orchard Beach in a taxi cab. A search of Nguany’s backpack later yielded a .45-caliber handgun and ammunition matching the shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting, according to court documents.

Nguany was charged with murdering Raybine in June of 2013.

Mohamed was also arrested on the morning of Raybine’s death, police witnesses said Friday, and later held on unrelated warrants, before being released. He and Lopez were not charged with the murder until April of this year.

Dressed in shirts and ties, all three defendants appeared at Friday’s hearing, during which Mohamed’s attorney, Thomas Hallett, began making the case that his client was arrested without probable cause on the morning of Raybine’s death.

According to testimony presented at the hearing, in the hours following the shooting police set up surveillance around 42 East Grand Ave., across the street from 45 East Grand Ave., which is where Nguany had told police he was living.

Police were interested in the residence because a blue Prius, which matched the description the witness gave of the vehicle the shooter had exited, was parked in a driveway alongside the building, and before his arrest police had also observed Nguany walk in and out of the residence.

After Nguany’s arrest, Mohamed was arrested at gunpoint on the front porch of 42 East Grand Ave., after he apparently went out to have a cigarette, according to the testimony.

Hallett maintains that at the time, police had no reason to believe Mohamed was involved with the murder. “The only reason you arrested him on that day was because he was at 42 East Grand Avenue,” Hallet said during the hearing.

Officers who presented testimony said they arrested Mohamed to ensure officer safety and as a “person of interest” because they believed more than one person had been involved in the shooting.

Maine State Police Det. Lauren Edstrom said she interviewed the witness, who was sitting in the car with Raybine when he was shot, and he told her he had seen two vehicles, including what he described as “a dark-colored Prius,” pull up to the parking lot before the shooting. He described the other vehicle only as a “gold-colored car,” she said.

Because there were two cars and because the witness said he had seen the shooter exit the passenger side of the Prius, Edstrom said “common sense” led her to believe that at least three people were involved in the murder.

Hallett said during the hearing that he also plans to challenge whether police had probable cause to obtain search warrants for Mohamed’s cell phone and for the apartment at 42 East Grand Ave.

Justice Dan Billings said the hearing is expected to resume in December.

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or averzoni@journaltribune.com.