Graphic Photos Presented At Gables High Stabbing Death Trial
MIAMI (CBS4) – Testimony has resumed in the trial of a Coral Gables High student accused in the death of a classmate.
Eighteen year old Andy Rodriguez is charged with second degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Juan Carlos Rivera, who was stabbed to death at the school in September 2009.
The first person to take the stand Monday morning was a crime scene investigator who answered questions about the bloody photos shown to the jury of Rivera's body.
Jurors were also shown the blood soaked shirt which Rivera had worn that fateful day.
Rivera was stabbed five times in the courtyard of Coral Gables High. The state maintains Rodriguez killed Rivera in a jealous rage after his former girlfriend, Daimilsis Salgado, befriended him.
On the stand Friday, Salgado blew holes in that theory when she testified that Rodriguez was not jealous of her friendship with Rivera. She said she had no romantic interest in Rivera, but added that perhaps Rivera had interest in her. She said she and Rodriguez had broken up during the summer because they were no longer getting along.
Salgado also talked about how Rodriguez had gotten the knife, saying the two had gone together to a flea market to purchase the knife. She said Rodriguez used the pocket knife at his job at another flea market, which required him to open boxes.
Other witnesses have testified that it was Rivera who through the first punch in the fight that day. There has also been conflicting testimony as to whether Rodriguez inflicted the first stab wound to Rivera's back.
Rodriguez' attorney claims it was self-defense in regards to the stabbing. A classmate, however, testified that she say it differently.
"Juan Carlos was trying to get up from the floor when the first stab occurred," said Yoselyn Ramos, 18, on the stand last week.
Rodriguez faces life in prison if convicted.
