In a hearing held this Friday in Miami-Dade criminal court, attorneys for Derek Rosa, the young man accused of stabbing his mother to death in Hialeah, requested that his confession to investigators be excluded from the evidence. They also filed other requests, and the judge set a date for the trial to begin.
The trial is scheduled for September 22nd, according to Judge Richard Hersch, who is presiding over the case. He stated that the jury should be selected by the end of this month. The young man participated in the hearing via Zoom, although he was not shown on camera.
Among the additional requests made by Derek Rosa's legal team is a request to determine who was responsible for capturing and disseminating the images and recordings of the night of the crime to the media and social media platforms. Judge Richard Hersch stated that he considered this matter to be unimportant; however, the defense argued that once the person involved is identified, this factor will take on greater importance.
We're talking about the images captured by a camera in the bedroom of Irina Garcia, the victim and mother of the defendant, where she spent the night with her newborn baby. The lawyers for the young man, who was 13 years old at the time of his mother's murder, Irina Garcia, also want Derek's mental health records to be kept secret until trial.
However, the judge stated that he believes it is important for the prosecution to have access to these records in order to evaluate the diagnosis and treatment of the young man's autism and attention deficit disorder.
Derek Rosa's legal team also requested access to a discussion posted on social media between Frank Ramos, Derek's adoptive father, and a woman to whom he allegedly shared details of the crime. However, the prosecution maintains that the recording was made without the permission of the parties involved.
As usual, Derek Rosa's defense attorneys and those who claim he is guilty of murder were present at the trial. Finally, according to court documents, the defense is requesting that Derek's testimony to Hialeah police at the time of his arrest be excluded.
The recording obtained by Noticias 23 was made shortly after the crime, when the teenager was in a Hialeah police interrogation room. The lawyers argued that, given that Derek was 13 at the time, he had no idea what it meant to speak to the police without an attorney representing him.
Last April, during a Miami-Dade court hearing, Derek Rosa's defense team presented a surprising twist to the case by presenting what they considered an alternative hypothesis for the crime. According to court reports obtained by Noticias 23, audio recordings and messages shared on social media by Frank Ramos, Derek's stepmother, could suggest a new hypothesis in which Rosa isn't the perpetrator and another individual could be the real suspect.
For this reason, according to court records, the defense, led by José Báez, is requesting additional evidence about the defendant's stepfather to further support its strategy. A few days ago, Noticias 23 obtained previously unpublished recordings showing the moment the defendant's grandmother and another grandson arrived at the apartment where Derek and his mother lived, days after the violent incident occurred.
Similarly, another video shows Isabel Acosta, the teenager's grandmother, having a conversation with a case investigator.
