Graphic crime scene photos have been released by prosecutors in the case of Derek Rosa, a 13-year-old charged with stabbing to death his mother as she lay sleeping next to his 2-week-old sister.
Graphic crime scene photos, including images of a bloody kitchen knife, have been released by prosecutors in the highly publicized Florida case of a 13-year-old boy being tried as an adult for the stabbing death of his mother.
Derek Rosa was arrested in October after police said he called 911 to report he'd killed his mom in her bed, next to a crib where his 2-week-old sister was sleeping. According to audio of the emergency call, Rosa is heard calmly telling the dispatcher, "She's dead, Miss."
Several images from the crime scene were released Monday by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. Some show a 10-inch kitchen knife with a broken tip, bathed in blood. Another shows 39-year-old Irina Garcia holding her newborn daughter, an image that was pulled from baby monitor footage, authorities said.
Another photo pulled from that footage appears to show Rosa leaning over his mother as she lay sleeping. Another image appears to show Rosa posing for a selfie with his tongue stuck out and blood on his hand. Authorities said that is the image Rosa sent to a friend after the killing.
The teen pleaded not guilty last month to one charge of first-degree murder. He is being tried as an adult after a grand jury issued an indictment for what proscutors called an "evil" and "premeditated" killing.
Rosa was transferred from a juvenile detention facility to Metro West Detention Center, an adult prison, after his indictment. Miami-Dade County Judge Richard Hersch has said it would be illegal for Rosa to be moved from the men's jail because he has been charged as an adult.
But the eighth-grader's attorneys have argued their client is an honors student who still retains the full support of his family, despite his alleged violence against his mother.
The lawyers have asserted in recent hearings, including one held Tuesday, that Rosa belongs in a juvenile facility where he can receive counseling and treatment suited for his age.
“He’s a middle-schooler. He still plays with Legos. He’s a child,” one of his attorneys previously told the judge.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that Rosa is being monitored around the clock at the adult prison, and is in a private cell out of sight to other inmates. His only contact is with jail employees, they told the court.
Judge Hersch postponed a decision in Tuesday's hearing to allow defense attorneys to present witnesses testimony claiming the boy's constitutional rights are being violated by being detained at the adult jail.
That testimony is scheduled to begin Thursday.
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