3:30 -- Co-defendant Fernandez, medical examiner testify in Washington's trial
Another co-defendant, Alexis Fernandez, has begun testimony regarding the beating, torture and killing of Alexis and Jeffrey Sosa.
Fernandez pleaded guilty to lesser charges last week as part of a state plea deal. If he testifies truthfully against his co-defendants during their trials, he will be sentenced to 26 years in prison.
He drove with the Sosas in his trunk to the north Cape Coral industrial park where they were killed.
Fernandez is the second co-defendant to testify that Roderick Washington was the individual holding the Sosas at rifle-point as they were tied and tortured. Today is day two of trial for Washington, who is charged with two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnaping and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He faces life in prison if convicted in the 2006 slayings.
Medical Examiner Robert Pfalzgraf said autopsies of the Sosas' bodies revealed Jeffrey Sosa died of gunshots to the neck and chest, while Alexis Sosa died of gunshot wounds to the head and chest and had been shot at least four times.
Both died before a vehicle fire that burned the remains of Alexis Sosa in a north Cape Coral industrial park, because neither had carbon monoxide in their blood, Pfalzgraf testified.
Further tests revealed the Sosas both had drugs in their systems, such as cocaine and methamphetamines.
2:15 -- Witness testimony continues
More witnesses and a co-defendant from Kemar Johnston's birthday party, which led to the beating, torture and double-murder of Jeffery and Alexis Sosa, have
taken the witness stand to tell their accounts of what happened.
Today is day two of trial for Roderick Washington, who is charged with two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnaping and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He faces life in prison if convicted in the 2006 slayings.
So far testimony has revealed between 30 to 50 individuals were at the party, drinking and doing drugs such as marijuana, Xanax and ecstacy.
William Arciszewski, who produced the "Cash Feenz" gangster rap group several of the defendants were a part of, told the jury he went to the bathroom when a fight ensued between the Sosas and others at the party.
The fight began over some threatening phone messages Alexis Sosa had left to several of the party-goers.
"I don't know what it entailed but it fired everybody up," Arciszewski said. "The entire atmosphere changed, you could feel it in the air. I feared everybody. They all had guns and I didn't. They were all acting crazy. I think (Johnston) snapped."
Arciszewski recalled hearing screaming and pleading from the Sosas, and witnessing some of the torture from the living room.
Washington, he said, was holding a rifle on the Sosas.
After the Sosas were taken from the house, co-defendant Kenneth "Ant" Lopez returned to the Cape Coral industrial park where the Sosas' bodies were and
burned their car, Arciszewski testified.
"The reason I know this is because (Lopez) came back crying," he said. "He said, 'I can't believe I did that.'"
Co-defendant Michael Balint is on the stand. He will receive a 14-year prison sentence in exchange for his testimony as part of the state?s case against his
co-defendants.
He is wearing an orange Lee County Jail jumpsuit, unbuttoned at the top.
Balint described how he had visited Johnston's home to purchase marijuana but stayed to celebrate Johnston's birthday and drink alcohol.
Balint testified that he tied up the Sosas at Johnston'?s threats.
"He told me worse things could happen," Balint said. "I could have been down there with them."
The trial will likely continue until 5 p.m. today.
11:30 -- Party-goers, police testify in Washington trial
In the first day of suspect Roderick Washington's trial on first degree murder charges, state prosecutors spent the first half of the morning calling witnesses from the Cape Coral Police and Fire Departments who responded to a car fire where the bodies of Alexis and Jeffery Sosa were found in 2006.
Forensics investigators Lisa Lansky and Larry Stringham described evidence they recovered from various locations. Lansky said she had recovered a cigarette lighter in the industrial park in Cape Coral where the Sosas and the burned vehicle were found.
Stringham positively identified the body of Jeffrey Sosa through fingerprint
analysis and also processed a home where small amounts of suspected blood was discovered. He could not say whose home it was, only that it seemed not to be occupied at the time.
Scott Johnson, a retired Cape Coral detective, said when he arrived on scene he recognized Jeffrey as "one of the Sosas."
Johnson and officer Gerald Moll escorted Jeffery Sosa and Alexis Sosa, whose body remained in the trunk of the burned car as it was towed to the Medical Examiner's Office due to its deteriorated condition.
Washington's high school friend, 20-year-old Jennifer Dunning, took the stand and testified to what she saw the night the Sosas were tortured and killed.
At Johnston's birthday party, a fight between party-goers and the Sosas ensued when threatening phone messages were played from the Sosas.
One of the messages on a party-goer's phone from Alexis Sosa stated that he would "shoot up their house or something," Dunning told the jury.
While they were beat and tortured, Washington held two guns on the Sosas, she said.
Dunning said she didn't drink though she smoked marijuana. Many individuals were drinking and doing drugs, she said.
Another person who attended the party, Michael Taylor, has now taken the stand.
He is describing how the Sosas were hog-tied and tortured while Washington guarded, though Taylor's account places a rifle in his hands rather than two handguns, as Dunning described.
Washington has been charged with two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and faces a life prison sentence if convicted.
Assistant State Attorney Marie Doerr described the beating, torture, killing and setting fire of the Sosas at a birthday party at co-defendant Kemar Johnston's house and a Cape Coral industrial park to 12 jurors and two alternates. She retraced Washington's alleged involvement in the killings.
Paul Sullivan, Washington's defense attorney, told the jury there were many people at Johnston's house that night responsible for what happened to the Sosas. But, he said, evidence will not prove that Washington is guilty of their murders.
"There's a bunch of people who bear responsibility in this case," Sullivan said. "But there aren't 10 people who are guilty of this murder. Mr. Washington is one of the people who are not guilty of this murder."
Earlier today, the state called Cape firefighter Michael Hannon to the stand. He testified to responding to a fire in an industrial park north of Andalusia
Boulevard and Kismet Parkway, which turned out to be a vehicle fire where he discovered the Sosas bodies and contacted the police department.
Cape Coral Det. Kurt Grau also took the stand. The state presented forensic video of the crime scene on a projector screen. The video shows footage of the Sosas' bodies and burnt vehicle near a hill in the industrial park.
Washington watched the video quietly.
9:30 -- Cash Feenz defendant Washington's trial under way
The trial of Roderick Washington, accused "Cash Feenz" defendant in the 2006 double murder of Jeffery and Alexis Sosa, resumed with opening statements this morning.
He's charged with two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and faces a life prison sentence if convicted.
Assistant State Attorney Marie Doerr described the beating, torture, killing and setting fire of the Sosas at a birthday party at co-defendant Kemar Johnston's house and a Cape Coral industrial park to 12 jurors and two alternates. She retraced Washington's alleged involvement in the killings.
Paul Sullivan, Washington's defense attorney, told the jury there were many people at Johnston's house that night responsible for what happened to the Sosas. But, he said, evidence will not prove that Washington is guilty of their murders.
"There's a bunch of people who bear responsibility in this case," Sullivan said. "But there aren't 10 people who are guilty of this murder. Mr. Washington is one of the people who are not guilty of this murder."
The state has already called Cape firefighter Michael Hannon to the stand. He testified to responding to a fire in an industrial park north of Andalusia Boulevard and Kismet Parkway, which turned out to be a vehicle fire where he discovered the Sosas bodies and contacted the police department.
Cape Coral Det. Kurt Grau also took the stand. The state presented forensic video of the crime scene on a projector screen. The video shows footage of the Sosas' bodies and burnt vehicle near a hill in the industrial park.
Washington watched the video quietly.
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