Post-9/11 shooting trial in final phase
Murder case could go to jury by end of week
By GARY GRADO TRIBUNE -- CONTACT WRITER: (602) 258-1746 or [email protected]
The last leg in the capitalmurder trial of a Mesa man accused in the killing of a Sikh begins today.
Jury deliberations could begin late this week after the prosecution puts on five more witnesses, including a psychiatrist, to rebut Frank Roque’s defense of guilty but insane.
The jury will have a number of decisions to make. The first is whether Roque was legally insane, or unable to know right from wrong, on Sept. 15, 2001, when he gunned down Balbir Singh Sodhi in front of his convenience store.
He also fired rounds at the home of a man from Afghanistan and at another gas station with employees from Lebanon.
If j u ro rs acce p t h i s defense, Roque will be confined to the Arizona State Hospital until he is no longer considered a danger, said defense attorney Dan Patterson.
His release will be up to the five-member Psychiatric Security Review Board, which will have control of Roque for the rest of his life, even upon his release from confinement, said Patterson.
If the jury finds Roque, 44, guilty of first-degree murder, the panel would then determine whether any "aggravating circumstances" exist, as defined by Arizona law.
If the jury finds none, Judge Mark Aceto would then decide whether Roque is punished for the murder with a prison term of either 25 years to life or life without parole.
Should the jury find one or more aggravating circumstances, the trial would then move on to the penalty phase, where Roque would be able to present evidence to be used in deciding leniency.
It would then be up to the jury to decide whether he should be punished with death.
The jury must impose death if it finds at least one aggravating circumstance and no circumstances "sufficiently substantial to call for leniency," according to state law.
The prosecution contends Roque committed the crimes in a fit of drunken rage over the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
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