The Cuban teenager Derek Rose This Friday he returned to appear before the judge at the request of his lawyers, who sent a motion to the court so that the minor, accused of murdering his motherbe declared “indigent.”
“In that motion it is alleged that the accused, although he had a private lawyer, does not have the funds to be able to pay for the experts he needs and the witnesses for his defense,” he explained to Univision Albert Quirantescriminal lawyer.
During the hearing, the judge must respond to the lawyers’ motion, which states that the accused does not have the resources to pay for his defense. According to Quirantes, being a minor, Rosa has a high probability that the judge will approve this request for her defense.
Previously, the defense requested that the teenager be transferred to a juvenile institution, but this was denied, keeping him in the Metro West Detention Center for adults, in Doral (Florida), where he remains under 24-hour surveillance in a level 3 cell.
In addition, the lawyers requested a monthly medical check-up for their client and that the defense be informed of his state of health. Although Rosa asked for private lawyers, they asked the judge to consider her circumstances and declare him “indigent.”
The trial, whose tentative date was agreed for February 26, could be postponed if the judge considers the lawyers’ request a reasonable argument. If you are considered “indigent”, the court will assign you a defense free of cost.
Rosa, who pleaded “not guilty” of stabbing his mother Irina García to deathfaces a death sentence or life imprisonment if found guilty.
Aside from the process, a group of people, mostly made up of women, gathered this Friday outside the courthouse to show their support for the young man, whom they do not consider guilty of the facts that he himself confessed.
“I don’t want to see this creature, this child in jail because he didn’t go, they need to investigate well,” he declared to the aforementioned media. Martha Hernandezwho traveled from Los Angeles, California, to be in Miami when the 13-year-old returned to court.
Rosa, who has maintained at all times the unconditional support of his father, José Rosa, and his maternal grandmother, Isabel Acostais receiving signs of support from more people, even beyond the borders of Florida.
“We are with her (with the minor’s grandmother), we are supporting her. We have suffered, we have cried and we want to be there,” Hernández stressed. The teenager’s sympathizers agree with relatives who describe Rosa as “an educated child” and “honor student.”
Rosa lived with her mother after her parents separated. García, 39, had remarried and was allegedly fatally attacked by her son when she was sleeping with her 14-day-old baby next to her.
According to the accusation against him, on the night of October 12, when his stepfather was not at home, the minor stabbed his mother a total of 46 times. The baby was not injured. The now accused called 911 and waited for the police at his apartment in Amelia Oaks, Hialeah.
Although his father and grandmother have asked the judge Richard Hersch that treats Derek Rosa like the 13-year-old teenager that he is, the defendant will be tried as an adult. A grand jury indicted him for first-degree murder.
