Jury to deliberate fate of Sikh killing suspect
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 30, 2003 12:00 AM
A racist killing an innocent immigrant, or a mentally ill man whose fragile psyche snapped under the weight of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks?
Jurors will start deciding today which description best fits Frank Roque, 44, accused of gunning down a Sikh gasoline station owner four days after more than 3,000 people died in the nation's worst terrorism calamity.
They must find Roque either guilty, not guilty, or guilty except insane of first-degree murder and lesser charges in the Sept. 15, 2001, slaying of Balbir Singh Sodhi, 49, who immigrated from India to start a new life but was killed because he wore a turban and looked Middle Eastern.
"This country has forever had a habit of inviting people here or bringing them here against their will, and then hating them, discriminating against them, calling them names," Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Vince Imbordino said during closing arguments in a Mesa courtroom Monday.
"It's not mental illness. It's hatred, it's anger," Imbordino said, calling Roque's insanity claims "nothing, no defense."
But defense attorney Dan Patterson said all expert witnesses in the case agreed that Roque suffers from a mental disorder of some sort, even if they disagreed on their diagnosis and whether it interfered with him knowing right from wrong.
When the terrorists struck, "clearly, it was lunacy at work on a grand scale," Patterson said.
And when Roque shot Singh Sodhi, then rapidly carried out two more drive-by shootings at Middle Eastern targets, "clearly there was lunacy at work here in Mesa on a much smaller scale," Patterson said.
Imbordino attached less significance to the conflicting expert testimony, saying that one defense expert administered a key psychological test wrong and another spoke with Roque for only a few minutes about the crime.
"Quite frankly, folks, I use that term (experts) lightly in this case," he said.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Defense attorneys are seeking a guilty except insane verdict that would land Roque in the state hospital, not a prison, until a review board determined he was no longer a threat.
Jurors also could find Roque guilty and decide not to execute him.
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