Yesterday, January 21, 2015, the Appellate Division, Third Department unanimously affirmed the February 10, 2014 conviction of Joseph Rodriguez following a jury trial in the Ulster County Court (Williams, J.) of the crime of murder in the second degree for the brutal beating of his two year old niece Asia who lived with the defendant and his family.
The two year old’s badly beaten body was found on the afternoon of June 20, 2012 outside the Rodriguez home partially buried under a pile of leaves. An autopsy performed the following day revealed that the cause of the young child’s death was severe skull fractures with brain injuries due to blunt force trauma. In addition to these horrific injuries, the victim had abrasions, lacerations and bruises all over her body.
Rodriguez, who has a 1993 conviction for Manslaughter for the bludgeoning death of a woman in New York City, was sentenced by County Court Judge Donald A. Williams to the maximum term of imprisonment, 25 years to life.
On appeal, the defendant challenged both the legal sufficiency and weight of the evidence in regard to the proof as to his identity as the perpetrator of this horrific crime. The Appellate Division, Third Department, however, found both of these claims to be without merit given the absolutely overwhelming proof establishing defendant’s guilt. The Appellate Division, Third Department also rejected defendant’s arguments that his statements to a child protective services worker should have been suppressed because the CPS worker was an agent of the police, as well as defendant’s claims that his wife Dahlia Rodriguez’s testimony against him was barred by the marital privilege. While the defendant also maintained that County Court made numerous erroneous evidentiary rulings and that District Attorney Carnright made improper inflammatory comments during his summation, the reviewing court found these claims either to be without merit or unpreserved for appellate review.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by Paul J. Connolly, Esq. of Delmar, New York. Jason Weinstein, Esq. of the New York Prosecutor’s Training Institute handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.