Jury sees post-killing tape of Mesa man who gunned down Sikh store owner after 9-11
The Associated Press
MESA - A jury in the case of a man on trial for murder in the killing of a Sikh store owner watched a videotape of the accused taken just hours after the fatal shooting.
On Tuesday, jurors in Maricopa County Superior Court watched as Frank Silva Roque offered suggestions to his wife about what she should say to police and arranged for the care of his dogs.
The tape was surreptitiously made in Mesa police headquarters as Roque, 44, spoke with his wife after being questioned by police.
It depicted Roque a few hours after Balbir Singh Sodhi was gunned down outside his store on Sept. 15, 2001, four days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Roque, who is charged with first-degree murder.
They argue that Sodhi, an Indian immigrant who wore a beard and turban as part of his faith, was targeted because of the way he looked.
They also argue that, in addition to the Sodhi shooting, Roque committed drive-by shootings at the business of a Lebanese man and the home of an Afghan family. No one else was hurt.
However, Roque's attorneys are presenting a guilty but insane defense. They argue that the Sept. 11 attacks prompted Roque to lose all sense of reality and to hear voices.
Dr. John Scialli, a prosecution psychiatrist testifying for a second day Tuesday, said the video showed that Roque was "logical and rational" about his home and family and concerned that he was in trouble with the law.
But Roque's lawyer, Robert Stein, suggested that Scialli was a biased hired gun, plucking out certain aspects of the video to bolster Scialli's position that Roque was sane at the time of the shooting.
Stein noted that other video shows Roque telling his brother that he needed psychiatric help.
Scialli is the third mental health professional to assess Roque's mental state at the time of the shooting.
A court-appointed psychiatrist testified that Roque, while likely hearing voices, could distinguish right from wrong.
A defense psychiatrist has testified that Roque was not able to make that distinction. | 
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