Thirteen-year-old [A.] did a difficult thing on Tuesday.
Standing in a Naples courtroom, the small boy pulled aside the collar of his button-down shirt and showed jurors where his father cut his throat, twice, during an attack in 2007. Later, in a gesture toward his father, he indicated he still loved the man...
It was from a hospital bed that Orena made his confession to detectives, a 15-minute statement played for jurors on Tuesday. In the recording, a sobbing Orena said he tried to kill the "little boy" to make his wife suffer. He suspected she was cheating on him, he said...
Through questioning, the defense suggested that a third person named Rafael, alleged to be Valdez's paramour, may have been on the scene and could have been responsible for the attack. But no Rafael was ever produced in the trial.
And in a move that likely worked against him, Orena chose to testify and present his own account of the incident. Orena said he was attacked by an unknown person as soon as he was admitted into Valdez's home through a door.
"I don't know how to say it," he said. "I wanted her to feel the way I feel. I feel bad."...
The children's testimony against him was the product of his wife's manipulations, Orena told jurors. His confession came after detectives threatened him.
