ANGELIA "Angel" HEADRICK - 17 yo (2007) - Haines City FL

Hunched over in his chair, Eric Rodriguez clasped his hands and pressed them to his forehead.After roughly seven hours of deliberation, a jury found Rodriguez guilty Thursday of murdering 17-year-old Angelia Headrick.The same jurors must return Tuesday to listen to evidence and arguments
about whether the 23-year-old Haines City man should be executed.Prosecutors
argued Headrick - a former Haines City High cheerleader known to
friends and family as Angel - was killed for about $500 and some
cocaine and marijuana.Witnesses testified that Headrick continued her boyfriend's drug-selling business while he was in custody.During Wednesday's closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney John Aguero
told jurors that Rodriguez and two other men, Gary Michael Glisson and
Jarvis Mosley, planned to rob Headrick on the evening of Jan. 3, 2007.Mosley, 26, of Lake Wales, testified that he, Glisson and Rodriguez went for a ride with Headrick in her car.Mosley said Glisson directed Headrick to stop on a deserted road.Glisson started to attack Headrick, and Rodriguez prevented her from escaping and stomped on her, Mosley said.The
girl's charred body was found a few days later, stuffed inside the
trunk of her car, which had been dumped in a Babson Park orange grove
and set on fire.The State Attorney's Office offered a plea deal
to Mosley for 15 years in prison if he agreed to testify against
Glisson and Rodriguez.Glisson, 32, of Lake Wales, has not yet gone to trial.Rodriguez's lawyers, Byron Hileman and Lee Adam Cohen, argued Mosley was an unreliable witness who got away with murder.During
deliberations, the jury asked to review a 25-minute, videotaped
statement of Rodriguez's talking with detectives on Jan. 10, 2007.Rodriguez said on the video that he heard Glisson and Mosley talk about the killing, but he didn't participate.Aguero told jurors that Rodriguez changed his story a couple of times when talking to detectives.However, not all interviews with Rodriguez were recorded.Aguero said it is impractical for detectives to record every interview during an investigation.But the defense argued Rodriguez was coerced by detectives in unrecorded interviews to admit involvement.Hileman criticized that detectives didn't record every interview they had with his client."They don't want a jury to see whatever tactics are used in those interviews," Hileman said.Early in the investigation, Rodriguez denied any involvement in the girl's slaying, according to testimony of detectives.Detectives testified they began to question Rodriguez further, and his story changed.Sgt.
Louis Giampavolo testified that Rodriguez later admitted to being
present in Headrick's car but denied taking part in the attack.Hileman described Giampavolo as a "hit man" sent to "break" Rodriguez and to get a confession."You can bet that it was not gentle," Hileman said.When
detectives videotaped his statement, Rodriguez said he heard Glisson
and Mosley talking about the killing, but he didn't go along on the
drive.Rodriguez said he was pressured by detectives to say he went along."You intimidated me," Rodriguez said on the tape. "I wasn't in the car."Aguero told jurors that Rodriguez's demeanor on the videotape didn't look like he was intimidated."This is just plain, old good police work," Aguero said. "This isn't any inquisition."