In a follow-up to a post from the other day, a Miami jury spent about two days deliberating and reviewing almost 400 pieces of evidence before returning guilty verdicts for one county of attempted second-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree felony murder on a law enforcement officer, one count of burglary with an assault or battery, and one count of carjacking.
The state’s case was based on the testimonies of the victim, a Miami-Dade police officer, and two eyewitnesses. Further evidence introduced included DNA swabs and fingerprints taken from the officer’s car.
The evidence presented showed that the officer pulled the defendant and his girlfriend over for a traffic violation. The defendant got out of the car and fled the scene of the traffic stop. He climbed onto a rooftop nearby and threw a 30 pound chunk of cinderblock down onto the officer’s head.
The defendant then got into the officer’s car and ran over his body before fleeing the scene.
The defense’s theory was that no eyewitness got a good look at the accused and that the fingerprints and DNA were planted in the car.
The jury did not agree with the defense’s theory and convicted the defendant as charged.
The defendant had prior criminal history so that, and the brutality of the crimes, played a role in the judge’s sentence. The judge sentenced the defendant to the maximum - 3 consecutive life sentences followed by a consecutive 30 year sentence.
Consecutive sentences mean that each sentence is served one after the other, as opposed to concurrent sentences that are served at the same time.
Eric Matheny is a criminal defense attorney representing clients in Miami-Dade and Broward. Attorney Eric Matheny represents clients charged with violent crimes as well as crimes against law enforcement officers. Attorney Eric Matheny can be reached at (305) 504-6655 .