Robert Jardin convicted in Masaryktown murder

A sullen, shackled and stone-faced Robert Jardin was led out of the courtroom Tuesday afternoon with a narrower outlook on his fate.

After deliberating for more than 15 hours over two days, jurors found the former bar bouncer guilty of the killings of Patrick and Evelyn DePalma, whose bodies were found Oct. 29, 2006, in their Masaryktown home.

More than a half-dozen family members and friends of the DePalmas, some of whom sat in court throughout the seven-day trial, exchanged hugs and handshakes moments after the verdict.

Detectives had reached an extended impasse during the investigation, but by the spring of 2008, new leads surfaced. Months later, DNA samples were matched, stolen items from inside the DePalma house were recovered and an arrest was made.

The family had waited nearly four years for a conviction.

"We're very pleased with the verdict," said Kyle DePalma, who grew up a short walk from his grandparents' home at 333 Korbus Road.

While testifying last week, DePalma estimated he visited his grandparents' home more than 1,000 times in his life. Everything, he said, was kept clean and tidy.

The night of Oct. 28, 2006, the inside of the couple's house was a brutal scene. Patrick DePalma, 84, lay face down in a puddle of blood in the hallway. His 79-year-old wife was slumped against a bed.

The couple were stabbed a combined 14 times, according to the autopsy report.

Mostly every room was ransacked. The intruders had pulled out drawers and dumped items throughout the house. The doors to both sheds on the property were pried open. The couple's car was missing from the garage.

Food was left on the counter and some items - including a rifle, a set of kitchen knives and a vacuum cleaner - were stolen, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

After Jardin was brought in for questioning in July 2008, detectives found a set of keys and a stereo in his possession. They belonged to the DePalmas.

Jardin gave the stolen vacuum to a friend and he gave Patrick DePalma's watch to his former boss, who owned a Brooksville pawn shop, witnesses said.

When he gave the watch to his boss, he asked whether he could fix it. Jardin said it belonged to his father and it had "sentimental value," according to court testimony.

Jurors will return to the Hernando County courthouse this morning and listen to more testimony. They will deliberate again on whether to recommend a death sentence for the defendant or life in prison.

Jardin had few supporters show up in the courtroom during the trial, but his mother and aunt sat 20 feet behind him Tuesday afternoon when the verdicts were read. They wept as they left the courthouse.

In addition to his two murder convictions, Jardin also was convicted of robbery, burglary and grand theft.

Jurors were sequestered after deliberating for eight hours Monday. They spent the night in a hotel on the east side of the county and returned Tuesday morning. Shortly after lunch, they submitted questions to the judge. They asked for a more-detailed explanation about the felony murder rule.

Felony murder takes place when two or more people commit a felony together and someone is killed. According to Florida law, everyone involved in the crime may be charged with felony murder even if he or she had no role in the actual killing.

A grand jury indicted Jardin in August 2008. Months earlier, deputies announced, David A. Bostick, a distant relative of the DePalmas, was a suspect in the case.

Bostick was later cleared.

While on the stand Friday, Jardin testified he was sitting in the car in the driveway when two men he hardly knew entered the DePalma house through the back door. Twenty minutes later, Jardin walked inside and saw the bodies, he said.

Jardin claimed he panicked and ran into the kitchen. He grabbed a container of milk out of the refrigerator and drank from it.

The defendant's DNA was discovered on the milk container, said prosecutor Pete Magrino.

Jardin said one of the men inside the house was a drug dealer named "Rick."

The other man was someone they had picked up along a street corner minutes before pulling up to the house on Korbus Road. His name was "Bub," Jardin said.

He did not know their last names and the two men have never been identified. Jardin claimed Rick had threatened the lives of his three children if he ever told anyone of the crimes. That was the reason he never reported it to authorities and lied to detectives during his interrogation two years ago, he said.

Jardin also told jurors some of the items stolen from the DePalma house appeared in the bed of his truck the morning after the slayings. He said he kept them because he didn't know what else to do.