Jury Selection Underway In Gables High Stabbing Trial
MIAMI (CBS4) – Jury selection got underway Monday in the trial of a Coral Gables High School student accused of stabbing a classmate to death.
Andy Rodriguez, 18, is charged with second degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Juan Carlos Rivera, who was stabbed to death in the courtyard of Coral Gables High School in September 2009.
Rodriguez' mother sobbed in the front row as jury selection was about to begin in her son's murder trial. Judge Dava Tunis called her before the bench and admonished her not to be emotional before prospective jurors.
The day of the stabbing, security video captured Rodriguez and Rivera fighting in the crowded school's courtyard during a break between classes. Off camera, Rivera was stabbed five times; the fatal wound punctured his heart.
Rodriguez ran away and security video shows him with his shirt pulled up covering his face.
In a statement to police, Rodriguez said he acted in self-defense and defense attorney Alexander Michaels plans to argue that in court.
"He acted in self-defense. He acted without any kind of bad intent or evil mind. He just reacted to an attack," Michaels told reporters outside the courtroom.
Classmates have said Rodriguez was angry that Rivera had accepted rides to school from Rodriguez's girlfriend.
In his confession, police said, Rodriguez denied having fought with Rivera because of jealousy. He told detectives he and Rivera shoved against each other as they passed in the school yard, a scuffle ensued, and he stabbed Rivera in self defense.
He told investigators he did not even know Rivera's name.
The defense asked for a delay in the trial citing emotions running high in the wake of the Casey Anthony case and the not guilty verdicts returned in that trial.
"Everybody thought they did a horrible job and threatened them, I think," said Defense Attorney Michaels.
Judge Tunis denied the motion for a continuance. When the judge asked a panel of 50 prospective jurors if they had heard anything about the killing at Coral Gables High, a third raised their hands in early questioning. One prospective juror said he knew only it was a fight about a girl. A woman said her niece – who was a student at Coral Gables High at the time – was so upset by the killing that she required counseling.
Jury selection is expected to take two or three days.
The trial is expected to last about two weeks. Rodriguez faces life in prison if convicted.
