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Thread: Perla Morales Pleads Guilty and Gets 40 Years in 2012 AZ Slayings of Richard Rosovich, Jr. and Emma Rosovich

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    Perla Morales Pleads Guilty and Gets 40 Years in 2012 AZ Slayings of Richard Rosovich, Jr. and Emma Rosovich

    A Tucson woman accused of shooting her children to death in August could be executed if she's found guilty at trial.

    The Pima County Attorney's Office filed a court document last week announcing its intention to seek the death penalty for Perla Morales, 26.

    The document, which became available Tuesday, states prosecutors are seeking the death penalty because there were multiple victims and both were under the age of 15.

    Morales told police she shot 17-month-old Richard Rosovich Jr. and 4-year-old Emma Rosovich several times after her boyfriend, Richard Rosovich Sr., threatened to leave her Aug. 11, court documents say.

    Morales called 911 and told the dispatcher she needed an ambulance because her children were dead, and hung up. When the dispatcher called back, Morales told the dispatcher she had shot her kids and cut her wrists, court documents state.

    Richard was pronounced dead at the home near West Valencia Road and Interstate 19, and Emma died at the hospital an hour after the 911 call.

    Forensic pathologist Jennifer Gardetto performed the autopsies on both children. She noted Emma was shot three times in the torso and one of the shots was fired close enough that soot was found around the wound. Richard was shot twice in the torso and once in the left arm. Again, one of the shots was fired close enough to leave soot.

    Assistant Pima County Public Defender Dawn Priestman provided a packet of mitigating evidence to the county attorney's office in the hopes prosecutors would not pursue the death penalty. That mitigating evidence is sealed.

    Morales and Emma's father, Javier Mejia Jr., were in a custody battle at the time of the girl's death, court records indicate.

    Mejia met his daughter for the first time on June 8. He also saw her June 15, but Morales canceled the next two meetings.

    On June 29, Pima County Superior Court Judge Terry Chandler gave Mejia permission to see Emma four hours a week and ordered Morales and Mejia to complete a parenting class.

    Emma and Richard died nine days before Chandler was to meet with Morales and Mejia again on the issue of child support.

    Morales is due in court Dec. 17. Her trial will be scheduled at that time.

    http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crim...0daee26c0.html
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    Trial date set for mom in death penalty case

    The death penalty trial for Perla Morales, the mom accused of killing her two young children, has been scheduled for Feb. 4, 2014.

    Morales sat crying in court Monday as her attorney, Dawn Priestman, discussed the trial date. Priestman also informed Judge Jane Eikleberry Morales will not be having her IQ tested.

    The U.S. does not allow people with intellectual disabilities to be executed, but apparently Priestman has come to the conclusion Morales' intelligence is high enough it would be a waste of time to have her tested.

    Prosecutors believe Morales, 26, qualifies for the death penalty because she shot multiple victims and both were under 15.

    Morales told police she shot 17-month-old Richard Rosovich Jr. and 4-year-old Emma Rosovich several times after her boyfriend, Richard Rosovich Sr., threatened to leave her Aug. 11, court documents say.

    Morales called 911 and told the dispatcher she needed an ambulance because her children were dead, and hung up. When the dispatcher called back, Morales told the dispatcher she had shot her kids and cut her wrists, court documents state.

    Richard was pronounced dead at the home near West Valencia Road and Interstate 19, and Emma died at the hospital an hour after the 911 call.

    Forensic pathologist Jennifer Gardetto performed the autopsies on both children. She noted Emma was shot three times in the torso and one of the shots was fired close enough that soot was found around the wound.

    Richard was shot twice in the torso and once in the left arm. Again, one of the shots was fired close enough to leave soot.

    A status hearing has been scheduled for April 15.

    http://azstarnet.com/news/blogs/cour...a4bcf887a.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    October 16, 2014

    Mom who fatally shot kids given 40 years

    After three days of emotional testimony in front of heartbroken family members, Perla Caroline Morales was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison and probation for life for killing her two children in 2012.

    Although the court appreciates Morales’ difficulties in life and her faltering mental health, it could not conclude that the killing of the two children were the result of a psychotic episode, Pima County Superior Court Judge Jane Eikleberry said at the sentencing hearing.

    On Aug. 11, 2012, Morales, then 25, shot and killed her 4-year-old daughter, Emma Rosovich and 17-months-old son, Richard Rosovich Jr., before slicing her own wrists and neck.

    She shot Emma three times at close range while Richard Jr. danced to a show on television in their home near West Valencia Road and Interstate 19. She tried to shoot herself afterward, according to court documents, but the gun was jammed. She then grabbed a knife after allegedly hearing voices inside her head.

    Richard Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene. Emma was taken to a hospital, where she died.

    The shootings are said to have happened after she and her boyfriend, Richard Rosovich Sr., had an argument when Rosovich threatened to leave her.

    Morales was also in the middle of a custody battle with her ex-boyfriend and biological father of Emma, Javier Mejia Jr., at the time. Court documents indicated that Morales tried to get an order of protection issued against Mejia Jr., in the fear that he would take her child away, but the request was denied in court.

    Deputy Pima County Attorney Victoria Otto argued that Morales knew exactly what she was doing when she killed her children, saying that she disagrees with the defense’s assessment of the severity of Morales’ mental illness.

    “She knows what she’s done,” Otto said. “She’s now trying to minimize her responsibility.”

    Otto asked for a maximum, consecutive sentence for each count of second degree murder and judge to consider the fear, pain and trauma the children must have suffered from having their lives taken away by their own mother.

    “This is about justice for Emma and Richie,” she said.

    Dawn Priestman, the defense attorney representing Morales, argued that Morales has had a long history of mental illness and trying to get help for her physical and mental conditions. Morales had endured abuse from her stepfather, mother and boyfriends, she said.

    “All the people in her life that were supposed to protect her did not,” she said.

    Priestman asked the court to consider the fact that Morales was a compliant, law-abiding citizen with no prior history of criminal records that family adored and trusted. Morales was distressed and in fear, while already having to live with vulnerabilities from past abuse, she added.

    “The impairment is obvious,” she said.

    Morales spoke to the courtroom, where families and friends were present. She broke out in tears and apologized for causing pain and suffering to everyone who was affected.

    “I honestly still do not understand why I killed my kids,” she said. “I think about my kids every day. I love them. I’m always going to love them.”

    Prosecutors originally sought death penalty for Morales. She pleaded guilty to second degree murder earlier this year.

    http://tucson.com/news/blogs/police-...c541b4a7b.html

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