Joshua Rosa
Joshua Rosa has a new look. As of August 5, 2008 Joshua Rosa has been transferred from the Hillsborough County Jail to the State Prison system.
Since the time I have been blogging about this case I have asked for anyone to present evidence that Joshua Rosa was innocent.
Not one single supporter has left any comment in support of Joshua Rosa.
Well there was one from someone named Bobby and this poster seemed to be concerned about the fact that a child molester was laughing since Rosa was in prison and he was still free raping and killing children.
The only problem is there have been no other deaths reported since Rosa was arrested; none of the child molesters in the area have been arrested for murder or even molesting children. Not saying it’s not happening, but nothing has been reported if it is.
But overall not one single person has said anything in the defense of Rosa. I missed the defense portion of the trial and wanted to know if I had missed something or why there was such an out cry in this case that the wrong man was arrested.
The poll I placed on the blog has collected a total of 220 votes so far. Let’s look at what they say.
100% guilty------------------------105 voted
Guilty but should get not life---11
100% innocent--------------------75
Involved but did not murder----29
I don’t understand with 75 votes for totally innocent that one person could not explain why they think he is innocent.
Overall to majority has spoken in the poll and majority feel he is guilty.
From reading different blogs and comments everywhere else I keep reading the same thing over and over.
Joshua Rosa is not guilty because he is a nice guy. He went to church and was active in the church and he cannot be guilty because of that.
It has also been interesting to read the comments from his own friends that said they thought Rosa had changed a lot when he started taking boxing. His attitude changed and his demeanor changed.
I guess we will have to wait and see if Joshua Rosa does appeal his case and wait for the outcome of the appeal to see if there is more to this case or not.
Joshua Rosa according to the State web site
23 comments:
I belive he is innocent. Not because he is a "nice guy". But because the evidence is not sufficient enough to incriminate him. There are so many gaps in the investigation and people are so quick to point fingers to seal a case and feel peace. But peace is not felt when you are certain that someone has been wrongfully acused. You should research the case more and maybe your opinion might change. I feel there is so much left unsaid and the case just does not makes sense. There is so much room for reasonable doubt and that alone should have made him innocent.
Thanks for the comment.
I have seen the prosecution side of the trial. I have seen the evidence they presented to the jury. The forensic evidence and how the blood got on his gloves answered a lot.
Any gap that might have been there was closed up with the forensic evidence. There was no gap in the description of how the blood got on his gloves.
I will look at anything you think was improper or should have caused him to be found innocent.
You are the first person that has said something other than he is a nice guy, and again I thank you for your comment.
I am so glad I stumbled across this blog!! I feel this was just a slam dunk case. And a innocent person will spend the rest of his life in prison. I watched pretty much of this trial and was blown away when the jury found him guilty. I had alot more questions then answers. And based on the evidence, I could not have convicted him. The prosecution did not prove to me beyond a reasonable doubt this guy committed murder. I pray he gets his appeal. The police investigation, activity in the park, motive, (I understand they did not have to prove motive). To many question to reach a guilty verdict.
I’m glad you stumbled across my blog as well.
I thank you for your comment. It’s been one of the first that actually made any logical sense.
Sadly the jury had no problems with finding him guilty beyond any reasonable doubt.
Even worse in Florida there is only a 3% to 5% chance his conviction will change even if he does appeal.
I really have mixed feelings about this case. But the majority of my feelings are the State was right in the charges and the jury was right with the conviction.
The forensic evidence, you cannot make that go away. With the detailed explanation of how the blood got on the glove, I will think the right person is in jail for the crime.
The fact that the only consistent thing about Rosa was his inconsistencies is hard to explain. The many versions he gave as the truth, which one do you believe? And now that he is convicted, should we believe he is innocent just because he said so.
Anyway, not to recap the entire case, I will stop and say this.
I have the utmost respect and belief in our Criminal Justice System. I know there are errors that are made from time to time and I rest comfortably every day knowing that if Rosa truly is innocent, that will come to light at some point and time and the same system that convicted him will make him a free man.
Sadly, I never see that happening though. I look for Rosa to always be a convicted child killer. But that’s just my opinion.
By the way, when you talk about gaps in the case would you mind to let me know what gaps?
He was on the scene, no gap there.
He had DNA from the victim on him, no gap there
The victim had his DNA on him, no gap there
His keys were found under the victim, no gap there
He continually lied and changed his story (a lot of gaps there, but those gaps were never used in court)
Even though motive was never an issue in trial, if he let the child go he would be a sexual predator or registered sexual offender. So there was motive to kill to keep him.
I don’t understand the support of a child molester/killer. Even many that voted on the poll claim they think he was involved but not guilty of murder, what was he involved in? Just the sexual part of the crime and then someone else killed the child?
Anyway, sorry to ramble on there… so if you don’t mind let me know what gaps you think were in the trial of Joshua Rosa.
Sorry for the delay in responding to you … I have had some internet problems and have not been on line a lot to keep my blog updated.
Thanks for your comment.
Jakester
Does anyone know if Rosa has or is going to appeal his case?
Has anyone heard?
I have been off line for the last few weeks, but now Im back...
Trying to get caught up on some emails and people have emailed and asked if he has appealed yet?
Anyone know?
Let me know, Thanks.
Jakester
how the court can accept the version of a "witness" that accepts that he was that day at the park drinking alcohol and using ilegal drugs like marihuana???....if josua rosa strangulate the kid like people said ..why he dont have scar's in the hands???? a person that is in a threath will fight and use the hands to try to get out but nobody said that joshua rosa had scar's in his body...dna investigators made a mistake ...
Strangulation without scars, that happens on a regular basis.
Just because someone was strangled does not mean they could exert enough effort to leave a scar on the person doing the strangling. Not to mention the most common reaction is to try to protect your airway (and just because someone does try to protect their airway does not mean there was a long hard struggle that ensued that would leave any mark on anyone involved)
Obviously the victim during the autopsy had the marks on his neck which is very common in strangulations.
Have you asked Rosa? Ask him what happened and see what he tells you.
Hopefully he could come up with more than they arrested the wrong guy and then presented no evidence in court to prove the wrong man was arrested.
DNA investigator made a mistake? How so, the DNA evidence showed they had each others DNA on them. Where is the mistake there?
Do you honestly think that was a mistake or just grasping for anything possible to keep the faith alive that Rosa is innocent?
Not to mention the detailed explanation of how the blood got on his gloves, Forensic Evidence, damn it man, there is just no escaping that kind of evidence in a court of law.
When the M.E. was able to testify exactly how the blood got there, or did you forget that part?
Oh well, we will share very different opinions of what happened.
Thanks for the comment.
Jakester
Joshua Rosa is innocent if the police had did there job they would have found the real killers and yes I said killers. The victoms borther was beat up several times and so badly he was sent out of state. I believe that the boys who beat him up did this. In gang murders they pull the victoms pants down to there feet so they can not run, this is what happened to the victom. I can not believe that no one knew this. The boy was found to have NO sex abuse done to him. I feel sorry for the family of the murdered boy but Joshua is not the killer and the real killers are still out there. I pray that some one will help Joshua and find the real killers and get him out. If all of us could get a bill borad put up asking people for information about this case and a reward we could get help for Joshua and find the real killers PLEASE HELP
Jakester ...... The DNA was not Joshua's. There was a small percentage of Black Amercan and a larger percentage of Spanish DNA found under the nails of the victom which where never clipped by the nail clippers as seen in the photos of the victom. Joshua never clipped any nails. I carrie nail clippers, lots of people do. Where were you when that was brought up in court? I was watching it on TV. They have NO DNA that belongs too Joshua, please get your facts straight. Joshua is innocent and the real killers are out there lauhging at the police because they have gotten away with this murder.
sharbst
Thanks for your comments,
However, I’m done with blogging about this case.
I think the facts stand correct; the evidence proved beyond any doubt to a jury he was guilty.
Billboard? That’s going to do what other than cost money and do nothing to help Rosa get out of prison
If his he innocent, did he even file an appeal?
In the beginning I had some mixed feeling about this case and wrote to Rosa and told him about the my blog and asked him if he could to respond just so the bloggers following this case could pull together and support him and help with his appeal or whatever he needed.
There was no response.
If he wants help I’m sure he knows where he can get it. But posting here asking for help with a billboard will only waste your time you spend typing your comments to me.
Since now more than ever I think he is guilty since he refuses to speak to us or even try to defend himself.
His only defense was they arrested the wrong person and his only comment has been he would ask God to forgive those that have wronged him in the trial.
So if you think Rosa needs help, tell him to get in touch and let us hear something from him other than they arrested the wrong person.
Hey Jakester ...
Honestly, I watched the trial from beginning to end. Part of me believed he is guitly, but the fact they could not pin the DNA found under Stephen's nails (BEYOND a shadow of doubt) to Josh perturbed me quite a bit. At this point, with all the advancments we have made, all the different ways Forensic evidence comes into play, I just couldn't accept that he was guilty. To have such a wide open door such as "possibly" belonging to African/spanish individual. Also I think it's a bit unfair to judge him based on the fact that he didn't write you back. How do you know he recieved the letter? How do you know he's not scared to death and just can't see straight? I'm not completely defending him however I'm just stating I was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.
L.R.
Thanks for your comment on this case.
As far as judging him on not responding, well I know someone that has been in contact with him and he told them of my letters to him.
They refuse to give any explanation as to why he will not respond.
Of course I don’t even know the person emailing me with that information so I still cannot confirm that information is correct.
My point is simple, if he wants or needs help; he needs to get over being scared of talking to people.
Not that I will be the answer to all of his problems but I think I can help him out.
I’m sure he is scared to death. I know I would be if I were in his situation.
The evidence, DNA, trial, Forensics it’s all a thing of the past. We can all talk about it until we are blue in the face and it’s not going to change anything.
If he does want or needs help, he has got to speak up and soon.
There’s nothing new in his court file as far as an appeal and the deadline has already passed.
I wanted to stop blogging about this case all together, but it seems many people want to keep it alive here. I’m willing to help, but he has got to get in gear and get some things taken care of.
I’m just to a point to where I don’t know what people expect me to do if he never responds to me.
Do you know Rosa? Talk to him? Write him?
Hey Jakester ...
Believe me I understand what you're saying. They always say "Innocent until proven guilty" Well Josh has ... so I feel you. No I do not have contact with him however I really would like to write him. I don't know what it was about the case as a whole, as I've never had an urge to write anyone who is a convicted murderer. I think it's probably the same reason everyone wants you to help and keeps it open ... Don't ask me to pin point it though! LoL
Hello Miss Reina,
Well if you want to contact Joshua Rosa
Visit www.joshrosa.blogspot.com
I have his address listed there.
I agree with you, there is something intriguing about this case.
I followed another case closely and said after that case I would never get this involved in another murder case.
However, this case even though I have posted I was done blogging about this case I seem to be getting more and more involved in it.
I have wrote to Rosa again and still waiting on a response from him.
I cannot pinpoint anything on this case either that makes its so intriguing.
I think part of me really wants to know why to a lot of different questions.
However, if Joshua Rosa himself never responds to anyone we will never know anything more about this case.
Thanks for the comment
The Jakester
I think he got the book to have someone to blame stevens father is a sad man he thinks rosa did it because the law they gave him something to belive
Betty,
Thanks for your comments.
I love for people to post here and love to see some of the comments people leave in regards to some cases and even more interesting are the emails that I get every day.
Anyway, to respond to your comment
I believe Mr. Tomlinson is a sad man because he suffered the death of his son in a violent, senseless death.
Does he have a right to believe Joshua Rosa is guilty?
Absolutely.
The police investigated the case, the court tried the case and a jury of Joshua Rosa’s peers heard the evidence and elected in a unanimous vote to return the verdict as guilty.
Mr. Tomlinson had nothing to do with that conviction.
Do you know Joshua Rosa?
Betty,
Also if you would check out
www.joshrosa.blogspot.com
I have been trying to get all comments regarding Josh over on that blog.
Thanks.
AKA The Jakester
Setting aside all evidence of a forensic nature, there are still two troubling coincidences that ocurred involving Rosa and Steven that day:
1. Rosa was the last one seen with Stephen alive and the only one seen leaving Stephen's dead body.
2. Rosa's keys were found directly under Steven.
I'll bet the above two irrefutable facts had everything to do with Rosa's conviction.
This case touched me in a way I can't quite put my finger on for some reason, in the sense that I'm left feeling terribly sorry for both Steven and Joshua that it happened, and don't feel inclined to judge Joshua for it. I feel confident that Joshua didn't formulate a plan to murder Steven that day, and even if he did have a hand in killing him, the most I can bring myself to ascribe in terms of guilt is that it was unintentional. Only Steven and Joshua know for sure what did or didn't happen regarding Joshua's purported involvement.
In my humble opinion, the state didn't prove beyond a shadow of any doubt that Joshua murdered Steven. I believe it's likely the jury was swayed by the emotionally devastating nature of the case, and were perhaps consciously or unconsciously afraid of the potential for negative publicity that would befall them if they didn't return a guilty verdict, and impose the toughest prison sentence. All things considered and to be kind, giving Joshua life without parole was not one of the judicial system's shining moments.
By the way, I tried going to your joshrosa.blogspot to post this, and got a message that it had been removed.
Angel,
First and foremost, thank you for your response and posting it here.
The blog for Joshua was removed at the request of his parent. They emailed and said the blog was creating a problem for Joshua in prison and they kindly asked that the blog be removed and it was so removed.
The Rosa case has touched many people and you as most people cannot figure out what the connection is with this case. But none the less this case still receives national attention from my blog.
I would like to thank you for the time and effort you put into writing your response. It seems to be a well thought out response and it actually makes sense. I was growing weary of even reading responses regarding Joshua since a lot of people responding could not even articulate any simple point they were trying to make.
I have had mixed feeling about this case from the first time I read about it in the paper right as his trial was getting ready to start and he said in the paper they arrested the wrong man.
People want to blame the courts and jury for his conviction and seem to think that the court and jury was concerned if they did not return a guilty plea then there would be repercussions in the community.
If you look at the history of court rulings you cannot claim there are many cases at all that were decided because of the repercussion in the community.
The courts worked they way they should have. The court and jury heard the case and the jury decided he was guilty. There were no problems in how the courts handled this case.
Do I think this was a shining example of how awesome our courts are? Yes I do to a certain degree. The courts in this case handled this case proficiently and swiftly and found Joshua Rosa guilty of murder.
If there was any problem at all in this case it was with the defense.
The defense claims they arrested the wrong man in the case (see the St. Pete Times), but in the long run they done nothing to prove that in court. The defense in this case did not even call Joshua to the stand in his own defense.
People still want to blame the court and prosecution for this conviction, when in all reality they need to look at how the defense was handled in this case.
I said all a long that if I were truly innocent, I would have been on the stand to prove my innocence to the jury. The only thing we heard from Joshua was after he was convicted and he said that he would pray for those that wronged him in this case. That statement in my opinion was a day late and a dollar short of having any impact on the outcome of his trial.
Granted the defense attorney probably knew if Josh did take the stand he would have been torn apart with the many different version of story that Joshua told during the investigation of this case.
But at the same time he had nothing to lose by taking the stand. I just think the defense done a poor job in representing Joshua in court. He was facing life in prison with no parole and Josh done nothing to try to change that in my opinion.
I would have rather taken the stand to at least make sure the jury heard I was innocent time and time again during my testimony in the case.
And when you look at the case, even if you eliminated the forensic evidence the points you made still leaves the evidence as;
Josh was the last person to see Stephen alive
Josh was the only person seen leaving the dead body
Josh’s keys were found underneath the victim
Even without the forensic evidence the facts are still the same in this case. Granted there is no smoking gun type evidence (witness seen him strangle Stephen to death) in this case, but the jury believed beyond any reasonable doubt that Joshua Rosa was guilty.
Sadly as I have posted time and time again, the jury decision was the only decision that made any difference in this case. Even more sadly Joshua did nothing to try to persuade the jury that he was innocent of murder.
I have had so many mixed feeling about this case its not even funny.
This response to you would make you think that I believe that Joshua is guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. That’s not necessarily the case.
Part of me wants to believe there was something else that took place in the park on that fatal day, but sadly the defense done nothing to prove that anything else did happen in the park that day.
I’m told that Rosa is awaiting a response on an appeal filed and now we have to wait
1) to see if even the appeal will be heard,
a) according to his family that could take 6 months to 2 years
2) If there is an appeal
a) Is there any new evidence to present
b) Is there any problems with the defense in this case
c) Can they prove that Joshua is actually innocent
I have tried to help Joshua Rosa and communicate with him at the request of many people that have contacted me regarding him. He has refused that help and even though I said many post ago I was done with blogging about him, I still find this case interesting and still want to know what’s happening in this case.
Thank you for posting your response here.
Blake
AKA The Jakester
Thanks for responding Jake. Your reasoning is well taken and solid. I believe I should have said I'm not inclined to judge Joshua 'harshly', rather than not at all, taking both Steven's death and Joshua's subsequent trial into consideration. I attribute both his youthful inexperience and lack of a criminal past to explain his relative silence on behalf of himself. He was no doubt scared to death too, and froze, choosing to rely strictly on his older, more experienced trial lawyers. That said, I don't think life without parole was an appropriate or just sentence, and hope that at least it can be mitigated on appeal.
Thanks Angel
Sadly for Joshua it doesn’t look good.
The percentage of anything at all being changed in his conviction is only about 3% in Florida.
Meaning only 3% of who knows how many trial outcomes are actually changed in appeal.
I look for him to spend the rest of his life in prison with no parole.
The lack of criminal activities in his background will really do nothing to persuade the appeals court to change the outcome of his trial.
I think that a lot of things should have been handled differently in this case starting with the defense. Nothing against public defenders, but I had people that were willing to help him obtain an attorney for his type of trial. Now some of the offers for help were a little late since I only learned about the case days before the trial actually started, but I had 100’s of people contacting me and offering to help him out. Sadly he refused and then people did not know where to turn to help.
I guess now all we can do is sit back and wait to see if there will even be an appeal in his case.
Hopefully if there is an appeal it will be handled differently than his approach at trial. If not then I feel certain nothing will change and he will die in prison.
I pretty much watched the trial gavel to gavel, which is rare for me, since I usually don't have that kind of spare time. While the defense wasn't overwhelming, I thought the prosecution made too big a deal out of little things like Joshua having nail clippers in his pocket. I don't get why that's evidence? We may never know the truth but I didn't think the case was proven beyond a reasonable doubt and pray that the truth will come out. My heart goes out to the families of both Joshua and Steven. What a tragic situation.
Larry Belew
Thanks for your comment…
Most people tried to argue that the trial was too fast to determine he was guilty.
I did not get to see any of the defense of the trial, had to read different reports and information from the court.
If I recall correctly, the nail clippers had Stevens DNA on them and then they were found in Joshua’s pocket.
I’m sure if I’m wrong about that, someone will correct me so stay tuned.
Thanks again for posting here.
AKA The Jakester
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