Thread: FL: Man hauled from courtroom during rape trial

Man hauled from courtroom during rape trial

Rene Stutzman | Sentinel Staff Writer
10:25 PM EST, December 5, 2007

SANFORD - Antonio Rosales, accused of raping a child, had sat silently through his trial, and it was nearing its conclusion Wednesday when he suddenly lashed out.

As a prosecutor gave her closing argument about 10 feet away, Rosales grabbed a computer keyboard, smashed it against its monitor, then toppled the 200-pound table on which it sat.

Two Seminole County deputies grabbed him, pinned his arms behind his back and quickly wrestled him to the ground, but he continued to struggle.





Man hauled from courtroom Video
Desk overturned. Photo
Subdued. Photo
Antonio Rosales' trial Photos

"I need a deputy," Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson yelled down a hallway.

Other officers rushed in, and Rosales was handcuffed and hauled out like a sack of feed. No one was hurt during the two-minute outburst.

Rosales, 41, is charged with dragging a 10-year-old girl off her scooter and into a patch of woods in Casselberry, raping her and choking her nearly to death Nov. 1, 2003. If convicted, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

It's not clear what set him off Wednesday. About 20 minutes earlier, his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Tim Caudill, had rested his case without presenting any evidence.

The judge had asked Rosales, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, if he wanted to testify.

"I do not want to say anything," he answered in Spanish.

Assistant State Attorney Anna Valentini then began her closing argument. Rosales had confessed to sexually abusing the child, she said, and he had intended to do worse.

"He choked her so hard, she lost consciousness," Valentini said.

Rosales said something in Spanish, "Something to the effect of, 'I didn't do that' " said Etienne van Hissenhoven, his translator.

Rosales then picked up the keyboard and slammed it twice into the monitor, knocking it to the floor.

The seven-member jury - six jurors and an alternate - watched from across the room, then huddled near the closest door. The judge provided them with lunch and sent them home until 1ƒ|p.m. today, telling them they would hear the rest of the case and begin deliberations.

What she did not tell them was that she had ordered a psychiatrist and a psychologist to evaluate Rosales Wednesday evening at the Seminole County Jail to determine whether he is mentally competent to proceed. She is to hear the findings 11 a.m. on Thursday.

Rene Stutzman can be reached at rstutzman@orlandosentinel.com or 407-324-7294.

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Watch it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVhWd8XilDI

Life in prison?

I am very cautious about the death penalty - but if they have proven this man did this - I don't know of a better case to use the death penalty.

It was premteditated, it was a violent crime against a child, it was done while committing another felony, (rape and kidnapping), I mean what does it take

Does Fla have a 'life without parole'? Even if it does, as long as this monster is alive some touchy feely politician could let him out someday and another child will die.

It would be my guess this isn't the first one.

Trying for an insanity defense? Doesn't work very often in the U.S.!!!!

Just a ploy by a GUILTY MAN.

The judge ordered him evaluated to prevent the case from coming back on appeal because of his little outburst.

He's probably upset because he knows what happens to guys that play with little grils in the pen.

Dixie

I noticed how quickly his own defense lawyers distanced themselves from him when he became violent.

Violence can be related to mental illness in some cases but in other circumstances, violence is a symptom of evil.

I agree with Dixie's assessment the judge ordered mental evaluation in the event of appeals.

"Evil unchecked grows. Evil tolerated poisons the whole system."
Jawaharlal Nehru

orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/orl-bk-trial120607,0,7577038.story

OrlandoSentinel.com
Jury convicts man in child rape case
Rene Stutzman

Sentinel Staff Writer

5:31 PM EST, December 6, 2007

SANFORD

A jury today convicted a homeless immigrant of dragging a 10-year-old girl into the woods, raping her and trying to murder her. Antonio Rosales, 41, an undocumented worker from Guatemala, returned to the courtroom to hear the verdict.

He had refused to attend closing arguments earlier in the day following an outburst yesterday when he smashed a courtroom computer and toppled a defense table.

The six-member jury deliberated two hours before reaching its verdict.

Rosales faces a mandatory life prison sentence.

The girl, now 15, told jurors Tuesday that a Hispanic man with a moustache grabbed her by the ponytail and dragged her into the woods about dusk Nov. 1, 2003, in Casselberry as she rode her brother's scooter to the grocery store.

The man choked her, she said, until she blacked out. When she regained consciousness, she said, her pants had been pulled down and she was covered in fire ant bites.

Rosales confessed the week after the attack, telling detectives he took the girl into the woods and sexually abused her.

A state DNA expert testified that he found Rosales' DNA on the girl's breast.

Rosales did not testify.

Defense attorney Tim Caudill today told jurors there was scant physical evidence the girl was sexually abused.

He also pointed out that the girl did not identify his client as her attacker. She only gave a general description.

Prosecutors, he said, "have not proven the crimes my client is charged with."

Rosales also is wanted in Tucson, Ariz. in the rape and strangulation of his 74-year-old landlady, who was found dead in the home they shared in 2001.

He's to be extradited to Arizona once his case in Sanford is concluded.

He's already served time in a Guatemalan prison in the death of a woman there, psychiatrist Jeffrey Danziger testified today.

Danziger interviewed Rosales again yesterday to determine whether the defendant is competent to stand trial.

Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel
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I'd say his DNA on her breast is pretty conclusive evidence.

A lot of criminals suddenly develope mental illness after they are arrested for a crime.It seems that most of them are smart enough to plan and commit the act,but when it comes time to pay for their deeds they suddenly suffer from a severe case of "troubled childhood" and "mental disorder" syndrome.

I kinda withdraw the death penalty thing - I missed the 'nearly' part of choking her to death.

Kinda reluctantly, though, since I believe someone like this cannot be fixed and should never, ever, get to breathe free air.