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Prosecution Rests After Experts Testify In Rosa Trial

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 18, 2008

TAMPA - Prosecutors called their final witnesses Thursday - several experts who testified about DNA links and bloodstain patterns - then rested its murder case against youth minister Joshua Rosa.

The defense is expected to rest its case this morning, allowing for a possible verdict by the end of the day. Whether Rosa would testify on his own behalf remained unclear.

Rosa, 22, is charged with murder in the death of Stephen Tomlinson. Prosecutors say Rosa killed the 13-year-old at Logan Gate Park No. 3 in northwestern Hillsborough County on Dec. 8, 2005. A medical examiner testified that Stephen was strangled.
Defense attorney Brian Gonzalez has told the jury that Rosa is not the killer.

Rosa made a statement to sheriff's detectives after his arrest, saying he was jogging through the woods that day and lost his keys. He returned to look for them, came upon Stephen's body and tried to help.

When Stephen was found, his pants were down and his nose and shirt were bloody.

Stephen's blood was found on Rosa's shoes, hands and pants, prosecutors said. They said DNA samples on a set of fingernail clippers found on Rosa matched that of Stephen.

A bloodstain analyst testified Thursday morning that blood found on a pair of Rosa's white cotton gloves was consistent with someone holding a hand over Stephen's mouth while Stephen's nose was bleeding.

Gonzalez suggested that the blood pattern actually was from Rosa wiping blood from Stephen's nose.

The defense tried to show the jury that it would not be unusual for Rosa to have a pair of gloves.

The assistant pastor at Rosa's church, Zion Pentecostal Church for All People, testified that Rosa was a commander in the church's Royal Rangers. In his testimony, Concepcion Vidal described the Rangers as a Boy Scout-like program for church youths. The Rangers often wore white cotton gloves while performing skits and pantomimes during church services.

Rosa's mother, Raquel, testified that there is a church service every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. The night Stephen was killed was a Thursday. Her son almost never missed a church service, she said.

Although no one witnessed Stephen's death, prosecutors have pointed out statements that seem to show inconsistencies in Rosa's story.

Rosa, for example, told a young man who was in the park that night that he found someone dead or injured and he needed help. The young man asked Rosa whether he knew the person who died. Rosa said he did not.

Rosa lived near the Tomlinson family. He occasionally took Stephen to his church and introduced him to church members. Rosa's mother testified that Rosa barely knew Stephen but acknowledged that Rosa and Stephen were at her house one day playing video games together.

If convicted, Rosa faces life in prison.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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