GUILTY Fl - Roger Trindade, 15, Beaten To Death, Winter Park, 17 Oct 2016

Indy Anna said:

Roger Trindade was shy and nervous during his first year at Winter Park High School. But as the Brazilian transfer student's English improved, classmates said Roger carved out his place — taking advanced courses, making new friends and happily sharing Brazilian desserts from home when he wasn't tearing up the soccer field.

[...]

Winter Park Police Chief Michael Deal said the department has identified suspects in the case, some of whom also attend WPHS. Some suspects and their parents are cooperating with the investigation, he said.

Roger showed "minimal signs of trauma or injury" when police found him unconscious in downtown Winter Park about 9:45 p.m., Deal said. He was rushed to the hospital but taken off life support Monday night after being declared brain dead, according to authorities. The lack of external damage to his body complicates the case, Deal said, and the department must wait for an autopsy to determine Roger's cause of death.

Read more at ... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-winter-park-teen-dead-20161018-story.html


Deal said he is unable to release details about what led to the fight, citing the fact that juveniles are involved. He did say, however, that some sort of spray -- not Mace or pepper-spray -- may have instigated the incident. No weapons were used, police said.

Read more at ... http://www.clickorlando.com/news/teen-beaten-severely-injured-near-winter-park-shops


So sad for this young man's family. :rose:

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"The only spray I can think of that isn't mace or pepper spray, that 15 year old boys would have is that would Axe body spray."

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A 14-year-old boy charged with witness tampering and battery in connection with the beating death of a Winter Park teen pleaded no contest to the charges Thursday...

Jagger Gouda's attorney said the boy made the plea without making a deal with the state. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

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Three teenagers charged in connection with the killing of Winter Park High School student Roger Trindade are due back in court June 2.

Two of the boys are charged with manslaughter, and a third with tampering with a witness. The Orlando Sentinel is not naming them because they are minors charged in juvenile court.

The 14-year-old charged with witness tampering, who pleaded no contest to the charge, is set for a sentencing in June. The other two, both 15, will have status hearings that day, and their trials are scheduled for August 17 and 18.

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The trial of two teens charged with manslaughter in the killing of Roger Trindade, a 15-year-old Winter Park High School student, has been rescheduled to November 1.

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Simeon and Sutherland, now both 16, were charged with manslaughter in the death of Roger Trindade, who was taken off life support Oct. 17, 2016 after two days of unconsciousness. Their trials were set for November, but prosecutors decided to move them out of juvenile court and charge them as adults earlier this month — about a year after Roger’s death.

New trial dates in that case have not yet been set.

Sutherland faced a judge for the adult charges last week and was released on a $7,600 bond Friday. His attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf on Monday.

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The trial of two teenagers charged as adults in the killing of Winter Park High School student Roger Trindade is scheduled for Feb. 12.

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Jagger Gouda walked into court in handcuffs Friday where he read an apology letter to Trindade’s parents.

Gouda apologized and asked for mercy from the court.

The judge followed a recommendation from the Department of Juvenile Justice for what’s called a non-secure residential commitment.

It means Gouda will not be in a jail cell, but he will be in custody 24 hours a day in a more relaxed setting.

Gouda faces up to a year of residential commitment.

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Roger’s mother sobbed in the courtroom gallery, sitting across the courtroom aisle from the father and grandmother of Jesse Sutherland, one of the teenagers charged with manslaughter in his Oct. 15, 2016, killing.

“He killed my son by just punching him,” Roger’s mother, Adriana Thomé, said on the witness stand minutes earlier through a Portuguese interpreter. “A child, 15 years old, that is capable of such violence.”

Jesse, charged with manslaughter as an adult along with co-defendant Simeon Hall, was in court Friday. His defense attorney argued to Circuit Judge Jenifer Harris that he should be able to enter a plea and be sentenced without going to trial, something prosecutors so far have resisted.

Harris said she will rule after reviewing the evidence.

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Another defendant, Simeon Hall, who will be charged as adult, has refused a plea bargain and will go to trial next month.

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Jesse Sutherland has argued twice, but lost each time, that he's protected by Florida's "stand your ground" law.

Sutherland’s attorney filed a petition Thursday with Florida's Fifth District Court of Appeals, asking a higher judge to overrule two Orange County judges who thought his claim of self-defense under "stand your ground" was unfounded.

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Meanwhile, Hall had his trial delayed. It was supposed to start Monday, but it has been rescheduled for the end of April.

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Two teenagers accused of fatally beating a Winter Park High School student will go to trial Monday morning.Jesse Sutherland and Simeon Hall are facing manslaughter charges in the death of Roger Trindade in October 2016.

In court Friday, Sutherland and Hall were offered plea deals that carried up to three years in prison, but the teens rejected them.

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Roger Trindade’s friends gathered into a group hug on Orange Avenue, outside the courthouse where a jury had just found two teenagers guilty of manslaughter in the 2016 death of the 15-year-old.

“They say it gets better with time, but there’s always little things that you see or you hear that remind you of him and his family,” said Rileigh Hanson, a Winter Park High School junior. “It’s been really hard for all of us, but it’s brought all of us together. And for that we’re eternally grateful.”

Sentencing is scheduled for June 15. Simeon and Jesse face up to 17 years in prison, though the judge can choose to sentence them as youthful offenders or under juvenile sentencing guidelines.

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