NEW YORK. The Dominican Emilio de la Rosa, accused of the fatal strangling of his ex-wife, the Dominican Wanda Rosa, while she slept with their son on September 12, 2016, faces life imprisonment in the trial that will be held in the Superior Court of Salem (Massachusetts).
The jury selection that will decide the fate of de la Rosa began on Monday, and the accused, who had been hiding for a year in Paterson, California, where he was captured, has a defense team of three lawyers.
But prosecutors say that the evidence against him is overwhelming and that he faces a life sentence if found guilty of first-degree murder.
The file claims that de la Rosa, 38, murdered Wanda, 29, in the apartment they shared before she broke up with him. The trial of de la Rosa was delayed due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, explained his lawyers, Amy Belger, Lorenzo Pérez, and Aviva Jeruchim. He killed his ex-partner out of jealousy, and after escaping to California, he got a job using a false name.
He was located and captured in California on September 13, 2017, one year and one day after the murder, and was extradited to Massachusetts where he is facing justice.
The selection of the jury will take several days, said Glen Johnson, spokesman for Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker.
Judge Salim Tabit will preside over the case against de la Rosa. Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall is prosecuting the case on behalf of the prosecution.
If found guilty of first-degree murder, he faces life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Wanda’s body was found in her apartment in the suburb of Methuen in the early morning of September 12, 2016.
Authorities said that the couple’s son, who was then 4 years old, was sleeping in bed with his mother in the apartment located in a building on Tudor Street when de la Rosa strangled her to death.
The police initially responded to the Tudor Street apartment after a relative requested a welfare check for the woman.
He forced the door to enter the apartment.
The paramedics took her to the Holy Family Hospital where she was declared dead.
Before fleeing the area, de la Rosa took his son to a relative’s house in Lawrence.
He was held without bail in the Middleton jail awaiting trial. He has a long history of domestic violence against the victim, revealing his criminal record.
He had previously served four years in prison for abusing her and violating the terms of his probation. He had been released from Massachusetts state prison in January 2016.
Potential evidence that prosecutors have in the murder case includes a forensic interview with the couple’s young son, according to the evidence.
The child allegedly begged de la Rosa to stop hurting his mother that morning. Forensic interviews are structured conversations by investigators with the intention of obtaining detailed information from someone who witnessed or was a victim of a crime.
Other evidence to be presented includes the testimony before the Grand Jury of numerous people, including State Trooper Michael Murphy, the report and photographs of the victim’s autopsy, and photographs of the crime scene video, as well as an interview with de la Rosa after his capture in 2017.
