Joshua Rosa: Guilty as charged

I rarely agree with Jami Floyd but I am in support of this post from her. England doesn't treat drug addicts are criminals, - they sentence them to rehab, not prison. Prison never helps a person kick a drug habit - it doesn't help the situation at all. While I am strongly against drugs.. I do not even drink a sip of alcohol, nor do I smoke cigarettes - I still realize that people who abuse drugs - mostly have mental issues that they are trying to cope with. No sane/normal person would ever decide to do drugs, IMO.

So, I finally agree with Jami Floyd on something. Congratulations on finally pulling me to your side, Mrs Floyd - however brief the stay here might be..

This is a total miscarriage of justice. How did the heck this jury find this young man guilty of a crime where the evidence was shallow and weak? I don't believe for a second that he committed this crime. What I dont get is how the jury came up with a 1st degree murder charge whith weak evidence. I hope he appeals this conviction and get it overturned. I also hope that there is a fund set up for the appeals process. I will donate some of my money personally to see this kid set free. I swear our justice system is a total nightmare for innocent people.

I don't know the facts of the case in question, but to say that a trial (even in murder cases) necessarily must take a long time in court is simply untrue. If a case is not factually complex then there is no reason it should take more than a few days to present.

If the evidence is overwhelming, and the defense is unbelievable, I see nothing wrong with a speedy verdict.

Christopher

In all honesty, I'm not sure "more time" would change the outcome or even the process.

How many more witnesses were there to call? I'm sure that all available evidence was entered into the record, if not the defense lawyer is practically asking to be disbarred and there would be a new trial down the road.

If a case is clear-cut, then it doesn't take much time. I agree with your conclusion about not clogging courts with nonviolent offenders and focusing our attention on the real problems on the streets and in our communities, but I'm curious to know just how you could stretch a case like this out? Set a mandatory deliberation time and have the jury talking about the weather for a few hours?

Preach it!

Very upset about the verdict. No,real evidence. I believe Josh to be innocent. Prosecution never proved anything except Josh was in the park being a good samartian. Now for his good warm heart to try and save a life in exchange Josh lost his. I am very outraged, now believe it doesn't pay to help anyone and I am a nurse. So much resonable doubt were they paying attention in the court room. God bless everyone in this tradegy. Thank you, Sita from vacaville,ca

Jami, I agree with you that the system is skewed somewhat. The sad thing is that it is most apt to stay that way because it serves the intended purpose. That is to dispense unequal justice. thanx dpv

It's testamont to the intelligence of the good people who serve on juries today ,that they are able to cut through all the confusion , that defense lawyers try to throw into the mix . With so much evidence there was no reason to drag this trial out . Just makes lawyers richer . Stop acting like you know everything , there is a lot of intelligent people in the world , who can figure out when someone is guilty using the evidence presented them . Just the facts that's all we need , not a three ring circus .

It may have only taken a week or more to prove the the man was guiltybut how it he is sentance to death it will take more court time and State money to keep him there and to pay for his lawyers . If the facts are there and are plain to see and understand why give each murder an O.J. trial ? Did he not get a fare trail? The way the court system is set up now he'll have 10 to 15 years to live and more then likly a dozen appeals before he get near the death chamber. Thats more then what he gave the victim.

You are exactly right.

I agree.

Jamie, "How long do you think it took Joshua Rosa to murder that poor child?" Do you EVER have any compassion to the victim and their families?

I still can't believe Joshua Rosa was found guilty! My heart breaks for him!

I never heard any "solid" evidence. Did they ever look elsewhere?.
Also, how reliable were the witnesses?
Couldn't it have happened exactly the way Joshua said?
Any (I think) 19 year old would panic and run in a situation as this.
Surely there was more to it than what we got to hear.
norma j

Jami, what else was to be discussed over a longer period of time? The man killed the kid, and the evidence was plain without any more DNA detailing and stuff. What convince me of his guilt was the keys under the dead boy's body. And if he wanted to help the boy, why take the time to put the gloves on? They were not latex gloves! Who pays for longer trials? we do, no matter which State of the Union you live in. And thanks! that is my last word.

What I think he did or didn't do......there was so much probable cause in this case. The jury got it wrong.

Maybe we can't see all thats going on in the court room, but that does not mean we can't figure stuff out.
I'm in Maine and I can tell this kid was not involved with this killing.

Rewatch the entire video of this whole court drama and you will see again that there was just nothing out of the ordinary of him.
He jogged, he lost keys, he gets flashlight, finds body, goes for help, and he gets accused.
How about those witnesses that he ran out to ask for a phone. Could they not be checked out as the culprits as well.

I'm sorry I just found out the verdic and even though I do not know any of the people involved I just know in my gut this guy is innocent.

There was many shades of grey here and to say yep he did just show the jury was not really given all the information.

/crys a tear for the lost life of this young man.

I watched the whole trial and I was very surprised at the verdict. I don't know if Joshua did it or not. There was alot of reasonable doubt in this case. I don't think the jury got it right.

I hope Joshua appeals and this verdict is overturned.

I still can't get over the verdict. They need to really check out those clowns Joshua ran to for help. I watched the entire court drama, and still know that he didn't do it. His reaction to the verdict when read was not of a murderer as they found him to be. So much for trying to help people, thanks to what I saw during this case, heck if I help ever help someone. Well I should thank the courts for that.

I pray that comfort from God, will hold both families. For their tragic loss, this is so sad, for both sides.

Salt Lake City, Utah

I am shocked that Joshua Rosa was found guilty. What a shame! We will hear about him being released and FALSELY convicted 20 years from now. So typical of our "justice" system, to convict innocent people of a crime they did not commit! Joshua Rosa is NOT GUILTY!!!

I did not watch the entire trial but for what I watched I am extremely surprised at the outcome.. How did the jury justify and explain the people that he went to for help. Also where are they??? If I was on the jury that question would need to be answered. Or was it?? could someone one tell me.

Kay,Florida

The evidence I heard and have read said he was guilty.

Why are people interested in supporting a murderer?

Yet we wonder what’s wrong in America today?

We have people in Maine saying there’s no way this kid killed anyone. wow.

The court listened to the evidence and decided the DNA evidence that was present on Rosa was enough to convict him of murder.

Before blindly stating the courts were wrong in this case, don’t you think that the Sheriff's Office conducted an investigation of this case. If someone else had killed Tomlinson where is that DNA evidence with them? Oh yeah, I forgot there was none.

So can you explain that? Explain why Rosa had blood on the inside of his pants? Where his pants down for some reason?

I think if you re-watch the videos of this case, you will see someone who was non emotional, non-caring and cold. You would see a face of a convicted killer.

If he was truly innocent why was he not on the stand? If I were innocent of a crime, I would be fighting tooth and nail to prove my innocence.

Why all the lies and inconsistent statements if he was innocent? Oh yeah, he lied and could not keep his story straight. He got caught; he is now a convicted killer. Either way his life is over. Even if he would in a miracle win an appeal, do you think anyone in the community would be glad he is back? Or not be in fear of their children?

I just wonder how long its going to before others come forward to say Rosa sexually assaulted them. Maybe they are going to wait until after the appeal to make sure he stays in jail so they will not be in fear of their own life if he would happen to get out.

A jury carefully weighed the evidence. That is our system of justice – not a perfect system, but a very good system – one of the best, if not the best, available on earth. If you have this system, you have to live by it.

I'm always amazed at people claiming they 'know it in their gut' that somebody is innocent (or guilty, depending on the case). How? Thankfully, we don't rely on such subjectivity (influenced by a large variety of factors like race, or good looks,or age, or socio-economic status, etc).

Some trials are long, some are short. And everyone gets access to the same system of appeals.

In this case, there was evidence (contrary to those who somehow claim there was none). Clealry, Josh lied when he said what he did about puncturing the neck to create an airway. He lied when he claimed he cleared the face of blood. I don't think the medical examiners would lie about their findings regarding this point.

When people lie, they are hiding something. You can't be considered innocent if you lie about important details. This combined with other evidence in the case (keys, gloves, DNA), lead the jury in this case to make a reasonable decision. And this provides for some justice to the victim; something we would all want if it were a loved-one of our own who was the victim.

A week seems like a short time for a trial of this import, but, the defense had opportunity to present a case. The prosecution did the same. What more could be done? A fair appeals process will follow. That's our system. Not perfect. We can strive to make it better

I completely agree with the perspective regarding NOT treating drug use offensives as crimes and thus tying up courts and making impact on the core problem.

I watched this trial in its entirety and not for one second thought that
Joshua was guilty, my heart goes out to him and his family.
the prosecutors did a pretty weak job , they should have looked a
little closer to those clowns that were in the park to smoke pot.
I hope he appeals and is set free

Lydia
Orlando fl

I am stunned by the jury verdict. There was "reosonable doubt" all over this case.

I watched all that was shown to us. Because of the limited hours of coverage (I really miss having live on the west coast coverage from 9am – 5 pm), we didn't get to see *all* the evidence, but I do think there was more than enough doubt as to his guilt.

Over the years, I have served on many juries and I feel as though he was *innocent* - not just not guilty.

Deb, Las Vegas

I watched this from start to finish. I do not believe Josh had anything to do with this. The blood specialist even testified to the blood being spread just by Josh trying to help the victim. They had no real evidence to this crime.
I probably will think twice about trying to help or assist if I come up on a crime scene. If being helpful gets you life in prison, that is a shame. Our law needs to reevaluated. I hope he appeals and gets released before he loses to much of his youth to the system.

I to watched this case from begin to end. I don't know how they found GUILTY with so many grey areas. I'm disgusted, by our system, its flawed on this verdict, due to the facts. They said upon going into the area that a friend of the young victim, tried to pick him up and that Rosa was right there with him. The facts about the keys being under the victim, could they not have fell on the ground at that time or during the upset of the crowd been accidently been kicked in that area, while the friend picked up the young man??? There's too many questions left unanswered. NOT GUILTY, is what I would,ve found, if the jurors truly followed the Judges' instructions, they to would've found NOT-GUILTY!!!!! That is my verdict. The appeals shouldn't have a hard time due to the outburst of the victims family. Again too many grey areas!!!!

I definitely think the jury got this one wrong. I watched the entire trial, just as the jury saw it and there is NO WAY that I could have found Joshua Rosa guilty of this murder. There was no real evidence. There was more doubt than facts and certainty. My heart aches and breaks for him and his family. Not to take away from the victim's family and hurt, That pain is legitimate and real. But for another family to "lose" their child, is just senseless.

This jury definitely failed the system. I do hope that Joshua Rosa appeals and is set free. I do not see him as a threat to our society. Many prayers to all involved.

Regarding the guilty verdict in the Rosa trial. This man was waaaaay too smooth, and his own attorney stated something to the effect that not putting his client on the witness stand was because a defendant sometimes does not come off as being a sympathetic individual. After I heard Rosa speak ever so "eloquently " after the verdict was read, I was even more convinced that I was right in my own evaluation that he was guilty of the murder of the 13 year-old child. Rosa is not a child, at 21 years-old he is a young adult. Common sense prevailed once again as it should in these types of crimes. We must come back to the basics in these types of cases, and this one was blatantly a case of using common sense. Being an active church person is definetly not always a good thing...lots of crazies out there hiding in plain sight!

I feel very sorry for Stephen Tomlinson's family and their loss but on Joshua Rosa's behalf, I feel there was definitely 'reasonable doubt'!

I believe there was enough reasonable doubt that this jury should not have convicted Josh of this crime. One of the experts testified that during a strangulation, the victim doesn't bleed immediatly. The blood comes a while later. By the time Josh found the Tomlinson boy, he was bleeding. Josh tried to help him and that's how he got blood on him. My heart goes out to both the Rosa and Tomlinson families.

lydia funk i agree.

GOOD VERDICT !!! POOR STEPHEN !!!!!
ncruss

I feel sorry for both youths at this time. I believe they were victims of the social pressure religion imposes on some people, specially the young. Upon reading the story, it was very evident to me there was a bond between them. This bond was broken by a very secret yen that ultimately came out totally wrong. Like many other confused young men, I believe Rosa sunk himself into religion, to escape his human natural instinct. I believe his instincts took over and he revealed him self to Tomlinson, Tomlinson then rejected him. But beyond rejection, I believe Rosa’s main motive may have been the panic he felt at the site of anyone knowing, someone so invested in religion, could be so abominable or such an “abomination”. Orientation is not only not tolerated by most religions, but it is still punishable by death in some countries.

As a gay man I have known of people like Rosa, who are not hiding behind religion, but using it to try and “change their ways”. Until your instincts take you away. I knew of some who chose to kill themselves, before killing someone else to avoid being discovered. I knew of a woman who killed herself because she could not bear the thought of putting her parents through what they went through with her little brother.

I blame religion.

Law enforcement should have checked out the guys who were already in the park. They chose not to. It was easier to just pin the crime on the Mexican for kiling a white child. So they didn't bother to look any further or even consider anyone else. How sad for everyone.

I believe that it just goes to show how a person can be convicted of a crime without overwhelming evidence. A person should be convicted, and only convicted when the evidence shows without a shoot of a doubt that this person committed the crime. A person should not be convicted when the evidence at best is circumstantial. It just gives me more of a reason to have shame in this country. A man who has spent years of his life helping others in turn is getting thrown into jail for the rest of his life.

It is getting more frightening to be a innocent first responder than any other time, even with DNA as evidence. What if Rosa found the boy, then as trained he pulled out a pair of gloves to do an assessment, or to try CPR; he realizes he is doing no good, so he stuffs the gloves in his pocket and runs for help? DNA would be transferred from the gloves to everything in his pocket, and you would have a guilty innocent, right?
It is so frightening to realize what a jury of 12 could do to ruin a life. I recently saw a 48hrs report of a husband who was playing basketball when his wife was killed, there was no real evidence to convict him, yet the 12 said guilty! His wife’s parents decided he was guilty when they heard the prosecutor declare him guilty; this was long before the jury even heard the case! What happened to innocent until proven guilty by a preponderance of guilt by the evidence? Too, often law enforcement points to a person decides they are guilty, then they build evince around that to prove guilt, even if the person is innocent. They should follow the evidence wherever it goes, not to the first person who was found with the victim or the close friend, husband or wife! If you try hard enough you can think of a motive for any one to be guilty! I know statistics show if the wife is murdered it was the husband, or the reverse. Could this be due to innocent being guilty thus skewing the numbers?
DNA was a God send, proving guilty to be innocent. As with anything DNA has been around long enough that both sides of the law may have found ways to ‘skew’ the outcome. When I was Ministering in a particular area I counseled inmates, and yes they all declare ‘I’m innocent’, so finding the real innocent is difficult, thus making it easier to decide one who is guilty and build evidence around that, rather than working beyond the norm to find the true guilty. I know this isn’t the same everywhere, but it is so interesting the number of times the jury says guilty, and later ‘more evidence’ is found and the person is innocent! What is the movie were they declare the man guilty and one juror says not guilty, then produces a duplicate knife disproving the knife at the scene is a ‘unusual one of a kind’ thusly changing the verdict one juror at a time? Many times guilt or innocents is decided on emotion rather than evidence? If this were not the case, then why show photos of the crime scene, all of them, the real gruesome and the one that really shows the knife (or whatever0) at the scene? Think about it, do the gruesome photos really show evidence or just stir up emotion? This also applies to mind photos place by the long adjective filled descriptions as told by an ‘eye’ witness or an officer of the court. So is Rosa really guilty?

I don't believe in religions But I do believe in God. I believe that the Thousands of millions of people that heard that Guilty Verdict Will also be the amount of people if not more that will hear a NOT GUILTY verdict some day for Joshua Rosa. I strongly believe in this boys innocence and believe that the this Jury was wrong and the Tomlinson Family will have closure and know the truth some day and it will be God and Joshua Who will be doing the forgiving to all of those who wrongly accuse him. My heart goes out to the Tomlinson family and The Rosa's. I pray for these families who's lives have been destroyed, But God will bring the justice than mankind cannot bring or decide I saw this trial and the person that took Stevie's life will be brought to justice. GODS Justice and we should all fear God because those of you who know the Lord know that he is above all laws and it will be on his time that he will bring all things to the suface. The Lord will give these 2 families thier lives back.

I do not think that joshua rosa did this he is not guilty!!

Hopefully there will be an appeal and joshua rosa takes the stand. It would be a shame if joshua spends the majority of his young life in prison to only find out he is not guilty. My heart goes out to both families.

Does anyone know how Joshua's appeal is going?

Everyone has there right to decide what they feel is the verdict, but there wasn't a very good investigation here, they fingered someone and rolled with it. I did watch this trial and there were numerous people involved. The brother to steven was sent away due to problems in the neighborhood, as we all heard what exactly goes on in the neighborhood, drugs , gangs, ect......... could Steven have been a victom of his brothers drug habit, and what better way to set another person up for the crime. Remember his brother was sent just a day or so right before Steven was killed.
This now young adult is facing prison time for-ever with such lack of evidence, totally unjust. The DNA wasn't a pin point factor, it was all a could be, 1 of 15.... he was 3. Everyone that was at the park was mexican, high on drugs and booze.
As for the finger nail clippers, I carry a nail clipper, The gloves were as said to be from a wiping , as for Stevens pants being down, what if there was another pedophilia scum involved and Joshua scared him off before the scum violated him. Thats a big park he could have went out the other way, but Josh went for help, remember he could have went the other way. As for Joshua's keys who says Steven could have found them as well as the scum, that could be reason they were found there.
As for Joshua looking for Steven that day, as we heard there were services that night, perhaps he was wanting him to come to services, Since they were neighbors and FRIENDS, I'm sure he knew of Stevens brothers problems and wanted him to stay out of trouble.

Look at all the different areas here before you judge anyone, He may have and he might not, thats the whole issue here. I am deeply sorry for Steven, and I to would want justice served, but there are to many directions here, there still needs to be an open case , not a case closed.

Tim- There is a fund establushed for Joshua appeal – The family is taking donations via several churches in the area. I know of one whois taking checks and money orders- Iglesia Misionera in Tampa. I too feel the same way.

For the record..I am tired of hearing junk from people who think they know it all. You were not there in the courtroom or go through the emotions the jurers must have , the defense could have done a much better job , but instead left the presecuters with more evidence than they had to defeat it. In addition, outsiders had more information regarding the case than the jurers did that I am sure would have been helpful in their decesion making, a jurer is not allowed to ask additional questions to gather information. They had only what was presented in the courtroom! I am sure it was VERY DIFFICULT to come up with that verdict! It would have been better for Joshua to have taken the stand. I hope he does go free if indeed he is innocent & pray for him & his family often and for the family of the deceased.

Just came across this site while doing a routine periodic check of this case. Reading the logic defying comments of the Rosa defenders compels me to respond. I am a relative of Stephen; I went to the park that night, following his murder. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's office was present in force. They had Rosa in protective custody and absolute control of the area. There was no contamination of the crime scene. They interviewed all of the pertinent subjects there. Of all the statements taken that evening-immediately following the crime-the only one containing any inconsistencies was that of Rosa. The only person any and all of the evidence pointed to was Rosa. There was no evidence of a 2nd gunman on the grassy knoll, or "some homeless guy" as the defense postulated. There was merely an undisturbed fresh crime scene and a clear trail which led directly to a single perpetrator, Rosa. This case was elementary enough to have been over that night, but it wasn't. The State's Attorney took painstaking measures to dot all the I's and cross all the T' s before bringing charges and then over a year later going to trial. I was in court all week. I saw the physical evidence the jurors saw; I heard the testimony the jurors heard. I heard procedural arguments they were not privy to. I even saw something they didn't; extremely damning blood evidence the State had which contradicted the defense's inane "Expert Witness." The judge made a procedural ruling as to why they could not admit it at the "late" point in time they requested. However he did grant them latitude in rehashing the Coroner's testimony to make their point, clearing the way to have that blood evidence admitted at a possible appeal hearing. Having heard the testimony and seen the evidence, the jury had absolutely no "reason" to doubt the killer was Rosa. Everything pointed to his guilt, nothing pointed to his innocence. No doubt the only thing that caused them to deliberate for as long as they did was the determination of the murder being premeditated-which it was-or not. For his crime as it was charged, Rosa received a mandatory life sentence. He is guilty. He has been found guilty. Their is no magic bullet theory to save him. OJ won't find this "real killer" in a sand trap either. The decision won't be overturned. He isn't getting the punishment he deserves (death) but he is getting the one he needs (life). May God have mercy on him. RIP Stephen.

You( generally speaking) guys don't know any of the facts. JOSHUA ROSA IS NOT GUILTY. FREE HIM! He's a man of God all around.

It's so amazing that people automatically assume things and believe everything they see on the news. American's in general are ignorant because they believe what the media tells them. Everyone thinks they know everything because they heard it on the news. Guess what people, the media twists things to make them sound or look a certain way.

Josh wasn't over confident, he was sitting in front of a jury who would decide his fate for him, sorry but everyone handles stress differently. Josh looked scared and hopeful, not overly confident. My heart goes out to Josh and his family.

There was reasonable doubt in this situation, there were flaws in the law enforcement's story, and Josh's story was not given fair consideration. Our country is just so consumed with accusing people and not considering every option. Now the real killer is out on the streets, free, while Josh is in jail and it not guilty. If Josh is someday found not guilty, the government will not help him or pay him back for all their mistakes, no instead he will be stuck rebuilding a life that was taken away from him for no reason.

If Josh was with out a doubt related to the murder, he would have been arrested immediately. No instead law enforcement couldn't find the real killer so they took the next "best" option and accused Josh. Josh was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He tried helping the child and was in a panic because he cared about the child and was frantic to help him. Unfortunately this put his DNA at the scene.

I personally knew Josh. I went to high school with him and was in JROTC with him. He was a fantastic individual whom everyone trusted. I trusted him completely. We were all a close knit group, including Josh. He was always proud of the kids he taught at church, he taught them drill and would mentor them. It is a shame that people assume it is not appropriate for an adult male to be a mentor to young boys. It doesn't mean the adult is homosexual, it means they are a mentor and trying to help young boy become Godly men. Sure there are ill people who do take advantage of young boys in a church environment, but this was not the case with Josh.

I pray that Josh will be set free of this horrible situation. My heart also goes out for the young boy who was murdered. The family wants closure so they are pointing the finger at Josh too, without true knowledge of what happened. It is a sad case, and I will continue to pray for Josh, in hopes that justice will be done for Josh, he is a victim as well. No matter what happens, everything does happen for a reason. God is with Josh and will always be.

The only reasonable doubt was why in the face of overwhelming States' Evidence against him the defendant did not take the stand to profess his innocense. The answer to this is that he was obviously guilty and his lawyer was ethical enough not to have him commit perjury.