· Congratulations to DCs Marie Mato and Natalie Snyder for securing a conviction in a Capital Sexual Battery case from 2018.
The Victim was 10 years old when she told a teacher that the Defendant, her step-father, had been touching her private parts and performing oral sex on her for a few months. Police and DCF were contacted by the school, as mandated by law. During the investigation, the Victim was forensically interviewed and gave a very detailed and powerful disclosure during the video-recorded interview. This was played for the jury as permissible child-hearsay evidence. The MDPD Detective searched a warehouse where two of the incidents occurred and found corroborating DNA evidence to support the Victim’s testimony. At trial, the State presented both child-hearsay evidence and DNA evidence. The Victim, now 15-years-old, testified in open court.
A special thank you to Senior Trial Counsel Laura Adams, who had the case for the first two years after arrest. Laura’s thorough investigation and impeccable organization helped the trial prosecutors pick up the case and successfully handle it through trial.
Special recognition goes to Sexual Battery/Child Abuse Lead Worker Maria Sanin who performed the forensic interview that was a very compelling piece of evidence.
Special thanks to Trial Coordinators Valerie Ford and Charlotte Haslem for their hard work during trial preparation, as well as to Val for sitting with the civilian witnesses during trial and providing extra emotional support for our Victim. Also, thanks to Supervisor Nickcole Cheatum and Trial Coordinator Bertreece Wilder for additional assistance with the paperwork, exhibits, etc.
· Congratulations to DCs Shawn Abuhoff and Gabriela Alfaro for securing a guilty verdict on a Manslaughter case.
The facts were undisputed. The Defendant, Pablo Lyle, and his family were getting a ride to the airport from his brother-in-law, who got off on the wrong exit. While trying to get back on the expressway, the Defendant’s brother-in-law performed a U-turn and cut across three lanes of busy traffic. In the process, he cut off the Victim and forced him to slam on his brakes. As a result, the Victim got out of his vehicle and walked up to the Defendant’s vehicle to voice his discontent. The brother-in-law exited his vehicle to engage in a verbal argument, without putting his vehicle into park and it began to roll into the intersection.
The Defendant exited the vehicle after his brother-in-law and ran directly towards the Victim as the Victim walked back to his vehicle. In response, the Victim turned to the Defendant, raised his hands, and said, “Please don’t hurt me,” just before the Defendant punched him and knocked him unconscious. The Victim fell to the ground and smashed his head. The Defendant ran back to his vehicle and ordered his brother-in-law to drive him to the airport.
The Defendant never contacted 911. He was already at his flight’s gate when his brother-in-law called him and told him that the police were there looking for him. Only then did the Defendant wait for the police who subsequently arrested him for his actions.
The Victim never regained consciousness and succumbed to his injuries four days later at the hospital.
The ASAs overcame many pretrial defense and in limine motions. Jury selection also proved to be difficult, as three hundred jurors were reserved and many had to be individually questioned as to their prior knowledge of the case.
At trial, the Defendant argued that he acted in self-defense and that of his family who was in the vehicle. The ASAs were able to show that the Defendant’s actions resulted from anger towards the Victim, whom he blamed for this situation. The ASAs were also able to prove to the jury the causal connection of the Defendant’s punch to the Victim’s death by methodically mixing in the Victim’s medical records in with the Medical Examiner’s testimony.
The Defendant faces up to 15 years in state prison.
Special thanks to Trial Coordinator Mevurah Del Castillo, Lead Worker Cary Jose, and Supervisor Trinere Purifoy, for coordinating witnesses, locating transcripts, reports and new business record certifications, and for running over to court with evidence and demonstratives at a moment’s notice.
Thanks to Homicide Counselor Diana Santana who was the rock that kept the Victim’s family together and coordinated with the court liaison to ensure the Victim’s family had a way to enter and exit the courthouse without being exposed to media. She never missed a day of the trial, supported the next-of-kin with all their needs, and was a welcome hand to hold for the Victim’s fiancé when the defense really tried to attack the Victim’s character and actions.
Thank you also to Trevor Wanless, George Washington, Angel Del Castillo, and Rene Ferrer for assisting with our demonstrative and video evidence.
· Congratulations to ASA Wally Hernandez and Career Criminal/Robbery ASA Alexandria Hunter for convicting two defendants of Aggravated Battery and Robbery with a Weapon. Both Defendants are Habitual Felony Offenders and face life in prison. One also faces a 15-year minimum mandatory as a Habitual Violent Felony Offender.
The Victim was a construction worker who was walking on South Beach when one of the defendants punched him several times and robbed him of his cell phone. After the incident, the Victim stumbled into an alley where the Defendant continued to beat the Victim throughout his body while he was on the ground. The second Defendant contributed to the attack by picking up a glass beer bottle and slamming it on the Victim’s head. At some point during the attack, the Defendants took the Victim’s wallet and $300 in cash. The defendants fled the scene before trying to conceal themselves near a construction site two blocks away. The police found them and arrested them. The Victim’s bloody money was found in the area where the defendants were hiding.
A Good Samaritan witness captured both attacks on video using her cell phone. The Witness continued to record the attack despite the defendants yelling at her to stop. The Witness was also the person who called 911 when she realized the Victim could be severely injured. Once the defendants were apprehended, the Witness confirmed that the two defendants were the same individuals who attacked the Victim.
The State successfully argued that the defendants were guilty of Robbery with a Weapon based upon the principal theory, which was especially important since one of the defendants was never said to be in possession of a weapon. The State argued that the robbery was an ongoing course of events and that the attack by the one Defendant with the beer bottle was committed in furtherance of the robbery.
Special thanks to Division Secretary Roseel Bracamonte, Victim/Witness Counselor ReAnne Drayton and Supervisor Elizabeth Frade for their invaluable assistance.
· Gun Violence Unit ASAs Dara De Lucca and Khalil Quinan secured a guilty-as-charged verdict on charges of Shooting a Deadly Missile, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Criminal Mischief ($200 to $1,000). The Defendant will be sentenced to a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence.
The Defendant, a convicted felon, went into a jealous rage on December 15, 2019, when he did not recognize the vehicle parked in the assigned parking spot of his children’s mother (the Victim). As a result, the Defendant made various odd and threatening calls to the Victim’s father and aunt. Just before midnight, the Defendant went to the aunt’s home and brandished a firearm while making threats to kill the Victim and the “man” because “no other man” would be raising his kids. When the Defendant left, the Victim’s aunt called her. The Victim then called 911, and while she was on the phone with the police, the Defendant arrived and opened fire on her apartment.
After the police completed their investigation and left, the Victim sent the Defendant a text message confronting him about the shooting. Rather than responding via text, the Defendant drove to the Victim’s home and shot up the vehicle parked in her parking spot, striking it several times. Bullets fired at the vehicle also hit an apartment that was occupied by a mother and daughter.
Historical Cell Site Location Information and an expert in radio frequency propagation was used to map and show the Defendant’s travel that evening, corroborating eyewitness testimony and physical evidence.
Special thanks to Victim/Witness Counselor Inza Andrews, Secretary Teisa Amoros, Paralegal Specialist Francis Pozo, Legal Secretary Tanisha Arline, and Paralegal Specialist Neith Gort for their indispensable work in making sure the case was ready for trial. Finally, the prosecution would not have been successful without the invaluable and extraordinary contributions of the entire Litigation Support Unit.
· Congratulations to ASAs Ayana Duncan and William Gonzalez on receiving a guilty verdict in an Attempted First-Degree Premeditated Murder, Attempted Second-Degree Murder, and Shooting Or Throwing A Deadly Missile case. The Defendant faces a mandatory life sentence as a Habitual Violent Felony Offender along with a firearm mandatory minimum prison sentence of 25-years to Life as a Prison Releasee Reoffender.
The female Victim and the male Victim are the Defendant’s ex-girlfriend and the father of her children. The Defendant and the female Victim broke up weeks before the incident, and the Victim blocked his number after the he continued to send her derogatory and harassing text messages and photos.
On the night of the shooting, the male Victim drove to the female Victim’s residence to return her car. The female Victim began to drive to work with the male Victim in the passenger seat. After exiting a convenience store where she had stopped to purchase some snacks, she observed the Defendant watching her from the front passenger seat of his car, which was parked near her vehicle. The Victim could not identify the driver of the Defendant’s vehicle.
When the female Victim drove away, she told the male Victim that her ex-boyfriend was following them. As she drove down the street, the Defendant’s car came alongside her driver’s door and the victims saw that the Defendant had a gun in his hand. The female Victim attempted to speed away, but the driver of the Defendant’s vehicle managed to stay alongside, and the Defendant began firing bullets into the Victim’s car. As a result, her vehicle stalled and stopped in the road. The Defendant’s vehicle immediately pulled up a few feet in front of the Victim’s car.
Then the Defendant and the unknown male driver got out, stood in front of her car, aimed, and began shooting at both victims through the windshield. Both shooters moved toward the Victim’s driver side door and began shooting into the vehicle while she remained in the driver’s seat. Though she was shot a total of eight times, she miraculously survived! The male Victim was also shot but was able to run from the vehicle.
The male Victim made some admissible exited utterances to the responding police officers about the Defendant being the shooter and the description of the Defendant’s vehicle that were especially valuable at trial because he did not testify.
The video of the shooting was captured by the Ring camera of a residential property owner, which corroborated the female Victim’s testimony at trial.
The Defendant testified and unsuccessfully argued that he had an alibi for the night of the shooting. His arguments were contradicted by the evidence presented.
Special thanks to Victim/Witness counselor Lateafia Grinan for her tireless efforts to secure all witnesses for trial and for supporting the surviving female Victim throughout the process. Thanks as well to the Domestic Crimes Unit support team of Shon Scott, Dianella Diaz Perez, Christina Miranda, Tara Jones, and Nicole Consuegra for their assistance throughout the process.
· ASAs Daisy Delgado and Melissa Rodriguez secured a Guilty as charged verdict in a Battery case that occurred at the Miami Boat Show. During trial, they cross-examined the Defendant and overcome a self-defense claim. ASA Rodriguez is a member of the August 2022 new class of ASAs and this was her first jury trial. Congratulations to both!
· ASAs Alejandra De la Fuente and Andres Perez secured a Guilty as charged verdict in a Battery case that occurred after an argument between the children of the Victim and the Defendant. The State succeeded in a Stand Your Ground hearing and overcame a self-defense claim at trial.
· ASAs Amanda Cuevas and Kristen Rodriguez secured a Guilty verdict on a charge of Battery in a case where the Defendant attacked her roommate after several months of ongoing conflict. The Defense raised a self-defense claim at a Stand Your Ground hearing where the State ultimately prevailed. At trial, the State again succeeded in showing that this was not self-defense.
· ASAs Shaymaa Shwel and Shirley Miranda, and CLI Eduardo Abascal secured a guilty verdict on the charge of DV Battery. The Defendant and Victim share a child in common. While they were exchanging their child, the he became aggressive and violent. He pushed the Victim out of the house several times, causing scratches on the Victim’s arms. After winning a Stand Your Ground hearing, the prosecutors overcame a self-defense claim after cross-examining the Defendant and the his mother at trial.
