Links and Trial updates only..No discussion

[Pauli]

July 11, 2008
New live trial set for In Session next week (http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/11/new-live-trial-set-for-in-session-next-week/)
Posted: 01:56 PM ET

TAMPA, Florida–I’m here in Tampa, Florida getting ready for our new live trial live, beginning early next week. It is the tragic case of 13-year-old Stephen Tomlinson, who was found beaten and strangled to death in a park close to his home.

His neighbor and then 19-year-old youth pastor, Joshua Rosa, has been charged with first-degree murder and is facing life in prison.

I sat down with Stephen’s father, Ron Tomlinson, as he told me how he jumped into his car, drove to the park and found little Stephen dead with his shorts pulled down, just a few blocks from his home in December 2005.

The horror, shock and trauma that Tomlinson says he continues to live day in and day out now culminates with a trial of the person Tomlinson trusted with his son.

According to the defense, Rosa would be the last person anyone would suspect of committing murder. Witnesses say they saw Rosa running from the park, but Rosa says he discovered his young friend’s lifeless body and was only trying to get help.

This circumstantial case will likely hinge on witness testimony and forensics. Stay tuned to In Session for all the latest developments.

–Jean Casarez, In Session correspondent

http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/

[Pauli]

[/URL]
(http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=6102302&postID=113675127732596618) Tampa Neighbor Charged Month After Teen's Slaying


http://exchristian.net/2/uploaded_images/5912077-752464.jpg

TAMPA, Fla. -- A youth minister was charged with strangling his 13-year-old neighbor, about a month after the teen's body was discovered in a park, authorities said.

Joshua Rosa, 19, was arrested Friday at his job at a Sports Authority after DNA evidence linked him to the slaying of Stephen Tomlinson, the Hillsborough County's sheriff's office said. Rosa was being held without bail on a murder charge. He made his initial court appearance Saturday, but it was not known if he had an attorney, a jail official said.

http://exchristian.net/2/uploaded_images/5501719-710922.jpg (http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php) <--- Stephen Tomlinson

Rosa lived across the street from Tomlinson for four years, and both teens attended the same church in Citrus Park. Detectives said witnesses saw him leaving a neighborhood park on Dec. 8, the night of Tomlinson's death.

Detectives said Tomlinson's blood was found on Rosa's hands and on a pair of white gloves and fingernail clippers which Rosa was carrying. Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said the clippers were probably used to "remove evidence."

Rosa gave several misleading statements when detectives interviewed him, and he had been under constant surveillance for the past weeks, Gee said.

A motive was unclear, Gee said, adding that the boy's clothes were in disarray and there was evidence of a struggle.

Ron Tomlinson, the victim's father, said he had always trusted Rosa in the past. When asked Friday what he would say to Rosa now, Tomlinson said, "I hope you burn in hell."

[URL]http://exchristian.net/2/2006/01/tampa-neighbor-charged-month-after.html

[Pauli]

13-Year-Old Found Slain In Tampa Park


POSTED: 10:31 am EST December 9, 2005

TAMPA, Fla. -- Sheriff's office investigators were searching Friday for the killer of a 13-year-old boy whose body was discovered in the woods at a park near his north Tampa home.

The body of seventh-grader Stephen Donald Tomlinson was discovered at about 7:40 p.m. Thursday by some teenagers walking through the county park, said Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

The boy suffered "trauma to his upper torso," Carter said, without releasing further details of the condition of the body pending a medical examiner's report.
http://www.news4jax.com/2005/1209/5501719.jpg Stephen Tomlinson

Witnesses at the scene told WFTS-TV that the boy's body was found with blood on his ears and nose, with his pants down around his feet. They also described a suspicious man they saw carrying a large flashlight while throwing away latex gloves that appeared to have blood on them.


"He was freaking out. He had the gloves on and then he was throwing the gloves away. And we were like, if you don't have nothing to hide, why you got to throw the gloves away?" Laura Henriquez recalled.


Investigators said a possible suspect was interviewed at the scene but was not held by deputies. Carter called him "a person of interest" in the case.


Residents, meanwhile, said the neighborhood was generally safe, but they complained about the fact that the park has no lights and also worried about several registered sex offenders known to live in the area. Investigators have yet to determine if either of those factors played a role in the crime.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/5500490/detail.html

[Pauli]

Arrest made in strangling of teen in park
A man stopped on the night of the killing, but released, has been charged with murder.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published January 7, 2006


http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/07/images/xlarge/B_1_1BFATHER_231628_0107.jpg[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]


Ron Tomlinson, right, discusses the arrest of Joshua Rosa, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Tomlinson's son, Stephen.
http://www.sptimes.com/nav_graphics/trans.gifhttp://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/07/images/small/B_1_1BROSA_231628_0107.jpgJoshua Rosa was taken into custody by deputies at the time of the murder, but was released after being questioned.
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/07/images/small/B_7_TOMLINSON_229796_0107.jpgStephen Tomlinson was found strangled Dec. 8 in a park in Carrollwood's Logan Gate Village subdivision.

TAMPA - The 19-year-old neighbor of a teenager found strangled in a suburban park last month was charged in the killing Friday by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said Friday night that Joshua Rosa, 19, of 12412 Mondragon Drive, has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Stephen Tomlinson, 13, of Carrollwood's Logan Gate Village subdivision.

Tomlinson was found dead Dec. 8 in a county park near his home.
Rosa was taken into custody at the time of the slaying, but released after being questioned. Gee said he has been under surveillance as investigators pursued the case.

The evening the body was found, neighbors noticed Rosa coming out of the wooded park, with a pair of gloves and carrying a flashlight, and they held him there until deputies arrived.

The sheriff credited DNA evidence as key in the case, including blood from Tomlinson found on gloves Rosa had with him, and DNA from Tomlinson on nail clippers Rosa was carrying.

Rosa's explanations for his actions that evening were "inconsistent," Gee said. Rosa said he found the young boy in the park, and tried to render first aid, he said.

Rosa was being held Friday in the Hillsborough County Jail without bond. In booking records he listed his employer as a sales representative for Sports Authority.

Gee said Rosa and Tomlinson were acquaintances, but investigators do not know the motive for the crime. He pointed out that Tomlinson's clothing was in "disarray" when he was found, and said "you can draw your own conclusions."

Rosa had "defensive type wounds" on the night he was initially questioned, and his explanation about them "just did not add up," Gee said.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/07/Hillsborough/Arrest_made_in_strang.shtml

[Pauli]

Murder charge stuns friends of suspect
Some are convinced of Joshua Rosa's guilt but others who know him as an outstanding young man struggle to understand the arrest.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published January 9, 2006

TAMPA - The idea that 19-year-old Joshua Rosa strangled and killed his 13-year-old neighbor Stephen Tomlinson last month didn't jibe with reality for educators at Alonso High School, where Rosa graduated in 2004.

Principal Sandy Bunkin said she had only good memories of Rosa as a "great cadet" on the school drill team and in the ROTC program. He seemed well-adjusted and was a good student, she said.

ROTC leaders agreed.

"He was one of the best kids I've ever worked with in 12 years," said Sgt. Major Rodney Williamson, one of the school's ROTC leaders. "I find this very hard to believe."

Rosa was trustworthy, honest and had high morals - in all, an "outstanding young man," added Major Charles Organ, also with the ROTC program.

"He would be one of the last persons I would think would do something like that," Organ said of murder charge that Rosa faces.

Rosa was arrested late Friday at the Sports Authority on E Fowler Avenue, where he worked. He had previously been questioned on Dec. 8, the night Stephen's body was found in Logan Gate Park.

Rosa, who was on suicide watch at the Orient Road Jail without bond, even impressed his neighbors in the Logan Gate subdivision of Carrollwood. He attended church regularly, taking a leadership role in youth activities, which led adults including Stephen Tomlinson's father to trust him around their children.

"My brother felt safe with him because they were churchgoing people," said Patsy Driggers, Stephen's aunt.

She said Rosa's family was taking the arrest hard.

"The kid's mother (Raquel Rosa) was a sweet person. I know his family is broken up. Both families are heartbroken," Driggers said.

The family, which lived across the street from the Tomlinson home for about 15 years, could not be reached for comment. They put their home, now vacant, up for sale a week ago and disconnected their phone number.

Juan Rivera, who lives across the street from Logan Gate Park, said he often saw Rosa jog through the neighborhood. Rosa was known to be athletic, winning the beginner's division in fencing at the spring 2002 Sunshine State Games in Lakeland.

After graduating from Alonso, Rosa attended Hillsborough Community College, most recently this past fall.

In the Logan Gate neighborhood, friends of the Tomlinson family celebrated Rosa's arrest with a Sunday barbecue. About 40 people went out to the park where Stephen's body was found.

They remain convinced of Rosa's guilt, just as they were before his formal arrest.

"I know he did it," said Rivera, whose son, also Juan, was among the group of teens that discovered Stephen's battered body on Dec. 8. "I was one of the first ones there."

Stephen's father, Ron, also had no doubts.
"There's just too much DNA evidence," he said.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/09/Hillsborough/Murder_charge_stuns_f.shtml

[Pauli]

Suspect In Park Slaying Argues DNA Taken Illegally

By THOMAS W. KRAUSE
The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 20, 2008
Updated: 03/19/2008 11:45 pm

TAMPA - A church youth minister, charged in the strangling of a 13-year-old boy, asked a judge Wednesday to throw out some of the evidence against him.

A set of nail clippers with the victim's DNA evidence were seized illegally from Joshua Rosa, his defense attorney, Brian Gonzalez, argued.

Deputies and a prosecutor, however, said Rosa was not a suspect when the clippers were seized. Rosa, 22, had asked the deputies to shield him from an angry crowd that thought he had killed Stephen Tomlinson.

The deputies put him in the back of a patrol car, at his request, to remove him from the area. Rosa willingly emptied his pockets, a standard safety procedure, deputies said.

On Dec. 8, 2005, Tomlinson was found dead in the woods of Logan Gate Park. A month later, deputies arrested Rosa, saying genetic testing had linked him to Tomlinson. DNA was found on the nail clippers and on a bloody pair of gloves Rosa was seen wearing.

Rosa has maintained that he happened upon the body and had nothing to do with the killing. His murder trial is scheduled for April 7.

In court Wednesday, witness Juan Rivera said he and some friends went into the woods that night to smoke marijuana. Rosa, who they all knew, was running from the woods wearing gloves and carrying a flashlight, Rivera said. He told them he had found a body.

As fire-rescue officials and deputies arrived, Rivera said, Rosa tried to leave. Rivera and his friends prevented that. Rosa told them he had nothing to do with Tomlinson's death but Rivera said he didn't believe him.

Two deputies arrived at the park and found the growing crowd yelling at Rosa. Rosa asked Deputy Ed Perez to get him away from the crowd.

"You need to put me somewhere," Perez said, quoting Rosa. "They're going to hurt me. They think I did this."

Perez said he asked another deputy to pull up in his patrol car. Perez asked Rosa whether he had anything in his pockets. Rosa pulled out a wallet, a pair of gloves and the nail clippers.

Perez said he took the nail clippers because they could be used as a weapon. He let Rosa keep the gloves. Perez said Rosa did not object.
"I said let me have the nail clippers," Perez said. "He said OK."

Gonzalez asked Perez whether he told Rosa he was going to give back anything he took.

"Do you remember saying 'If there is nothing important in there, we will just put it back?'" Gonzalez asked.

Perez paused for several seconds, looked at his notes and acknowledged that he used those words.

The judge did not immediately rule on the issue.

Gonzalez said regardless of the judge's decision on the nail clippers, it could be a difficult case for prosecutors. No witnesses saw who killed Tomlinson and Rosa has a clean arrest record. Many of Rosa's supporters say he is not capable of violence, Gonzalez said.

Sheriff's Cpl. Steve Lewis testified that Rosa told him he was jogging and lost his keys. He got a flashlight and went to look for the keys when he came upon the body. Rosa told Lewis he found no pulse and went looking for help.

Rosa's keys, Lewis testified, were found on Tomlinson's body.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/20/me-suspect-in-park-slaying-argues-his-dna-was-take/

[Pauli]

Father sues Pentecostal Church over son’s murder (http://theapostolicreport.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/father-sues-pentecostal-church-over-sons-murder/)

9 07 2008
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/photo_servlet?contentId=6940024&version=1&locale=EN-US&subtype=MIMG&siteId=1018&isP16=true
TAMPA - Waiting for the wheels of justice to move has been one long, agonizing wait for Ron Tomlinson.
“I’ve been waiting so long, I’m so glad it’s here,” he said.
In December 2005, Ron’s son, 13-year-old Stephen Tomlinson was found murdered at Logan Gate Park, just a couple of blocks away from his home.

http://exchristian.net/2/uploaded_images/5912077-752464.jpgInvestigators arrested Joshua Rosa - a youth minister at the Zion Pentecostal Church. But on the heels of the criminal case, Ron Tomlinson is taking on a new battle.
The father of two filed a civil lawsuit against the Zion Pentecostal Church who hired Rosa as a youth minister. Tomlinson claims the church failed to properly supervise Rosa with Stephen.
“If you’re working under the guidelines of this church, policies and procedures indicate there needs to be a second adult present. They are not supposed to be left alone because what if something happens,” said Attorney David Tirella.

http://theapostolicreport.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/

[SLSmith]

UPDATE: DailyMotion....LIfe in the fast Copyright Infringement Lane I guess.....Joshua Rosa murder trial
After a short stint @ LiveVideo - I've decided to move over to DailyMotion as it is easier to manager this process. Plus, some people had stated they could not register on LiveVideo...who knows!

Let's see what happens - please pass along the word that DailyMotion is where the vids are if people are interested. I will be slamming them in - with no editing...so they are raw baby! What gives with the InSessions' boards??? They are down???

DailyMotion
Handle: TrialBuzz
http://www.dailymotion.com/TrialBuzz

As always, refer to word blog for directions as to where I have landed
http://trialbuzz.blogspot.com

[Cornblossom]

http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/pub/default.asp?/Online/qdisp/bn=06001425 as a favor to kindee....rosa's booking sheet

[SLSmith]

I am in love with this ME.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x65c71_716-9-jmco-if-the-kgb-had-a-lead-me_webcam

[lovelaw]

Sorry, this has probably been asked and answered many times over but can someone provide a link to a live feed for this trial? :redface:

I was hoping to find a thread here with links only. :shrug1:

Thanks for your help. :smile:



http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream3
NO PROBLEM! :happy0158:

[SLSmith]

JMCO video - could not resist. When the crime lab analyst (aka Lisa Bloom look-a-like) was in the queue I captured the OBVIOUS once over from the defense team....guess things are slow on the bench....

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x65ffo_jmco-some-eye-candy-for-the-defense_webcam

[lyndawitha"y]

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/M...1&locale=EN-US

Here's a video clip by Gloria Gomez regarding the Civil law suit..
posted orig July 15/08

[lyndawitha"y]

Originally Posted by lyndawitha"y
I just found this link..it addresses the disruption in the courtroom..at least by the headlines..however, it does go into more detail on the actual DNA found on Joshua..


http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jul...k-boys-slayin/
Originally posted July 15/08

[lyndawitha"y]

http://www.tbo.com/video/xml/MGBJL2B1PIF.html

Here's a video clip giving an overview of what happened in court today.. for those that didnt get to see the live feed today.
__________________
Originally posted July 15/08

[lyndawitha"y]

For those that didnt get to hear testimony today, here is a video clip by Jean C..outlining testimony and evidence brought in today..

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/cri...rosa.trial.cnn
__________________
July 16,2008

[lyndawitha"y]

July 16th, writeup of today's proceeding by TBO.com:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jul...?news-breaking

I wish we had a link thread for this trial for those unable to be here to watch and post during the live proceedings..I think these links get lost amongst convo's amongst posters.....
July 16,2008

[lyndawitha"y]

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jul/17/blood-analyst-testifies-prosecution-rests-rosa-tri/

Prosecution Rests this morning..