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Plea Negotiations Off, Trial Set In Pasco Rape Case

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By TODD LESKANIC | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 17, 2009

DADE CITY - Bobby Lee Black III opted to gamble on a jury to resolve one of two rape cases against him.

In a hearing today, Black refused to continue plea negotiations that could have resulted in a 30-year prison sentence. Instead, Judge Pat Siracusa set April 20 as the day Black will go to trial on charges that he and Jathniel McMichael attacked and raped a 66-year-old Zephyrhills woman.

Black, 20, of Zephyrhills, faces a life sentence if found guilty. He is charged with home invasion robbery, two counts of sexual battery and a single count of battery on a person over 65.

McMichael, 19, of Zephyrhills, faces similar charges and is scheduled for a March 4 hearing.

The men will be tried separately.

Investigators said Black and McMichael broke into the woman's home in the Winters Mobile Home Park just before 2 a.m. March 1, 2007. The woman awoke with one of the men straddling her and holding a knife to her throat. They demanded her jewelry and her PIN numbers for her bank cards.

The men took the woman into her living room, where they took turns raping her before leaving. One of the men kicked her in the face on his way out, investigators said.

A third man, Andre Brathwaite, is accused of driving the getaway car. Brathwaite, 19, is charged with home invasion robbery but is not expected to go to trial. He told investigators Black and McMichael were responsible for the attack, according to reports.

Black and McMichael each face separate charges stemming from an attack on a 68-year-old woman at the Ramblewood mobile home park in the early morning of March 27, 2007.

According to investigators, McMichael said he crawled into the home after Black broke a window with a brick. Once inside, they grabbed the woman and demanded money.

When she tried to scream, Black punched her in the mouth, investigators said. The men then forced the woman into her van and ordered her to drive them to her bank.

McMichael said Black raped the woman in the back of the van as they drove to the bank, investigators said. When they arrived, the men forced the woman to withdraw a couple of hundred dollars. They then drove her to a quarry off Sixth Avenue and pushed her in.

McMichael said Black put the van in drive and pushed it into the quarry. In her deposition, the woman said the van nearly struck her as it plunged into the pit.

McMichael was arrested less than a day later on a drug charge after a Zephyrhills police officer stopped him for riding a bicycle without a working headlight.

During an interview the following night, investigators said, McMichael made statements implicating himself, Black and Brathwaite. Black and Brathwaite turned themselves in March 29, 2007.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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