Man hauled from courtroom during rape trial

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

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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.

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"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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