Yesterday,
January 21, 2015, the Appellate Division, Third Department unanimously affirmed
the February 10, 2014 conviction of Joseph Rodriguez following a jury trial in
the Ulster County Court (Williams, J.) of the crime of murder in the second
degree for the brutal beating of his two year old niece Asia who lived with the
defendant and his family.
The
two year old’s badly beaten body was found on the afternoon of June 20, 2012
outside the Rodriguez home partially buried under a pile of leaves. An autopsy performed the following day
revealed that the cause of the young child’s death was severe skull fractures
with brain injuries due to blunt force trauma.
In addition to these horrific injuries, the victim had abrasions,
lacerations and bruises all over her body.
Rodriguez,
who has a 1993 conviction for Manslaughter for the bludgeoning death of a woman
in New York City, was sentenced by County Court Judge Donald A. Williams to the
maximum term of imprisonment, 25 years to life.
On
appeal, the defendant challenged both the legal sufficiency and weight of the
evidence in regard to the proof as to his identity as the perpetrator of this
horrific crime. The Appellate Division,
Third Department, however, found both of these claims to be without merit given
the absolutely overwhelming proof establishing defendant’s guilt. The Appellate Division, Third Department also
rejected defendant’s arguments that his statements to a child protective
services worker should have been suppressed because the CPS worker was an agent
of the police, as well as defendant’s claims that his wife Dahlia Rodriguez’s
testimony against him was barred by the marital privilege. While the defendant also maintained that
County Court made numerous erroneous evidentiary rulings and that District
Attorney Carnright made improper inflammatory comments during his summation,
the reviewing court found these claims either to be without merit or
unpreserved for appellate review.
On
appeal, the defendant is represented by Paul J. Connolly, Esq. of Delmar, New
York. Jason Weinstein, Esq. of the New
York Prosecutor’s Training Institute handled the appeal for the District
Attorney’s Office.
