Fifth District Court of Appeals denies motion to dismiss Roger Trindade case

The case surrounding the death of 15-year-old Winter Park High School student Roger Trindade will continue forward after a petition calling for a motion to dismiss the case was denied by Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeals Monday, April 2.

The petition to dismiss the case was filed March 22 by the public defenders representing suspect Jesse Sutherland, one of three suspects related to Trindade’s October 2016 death in Winter Park’s Central Park. That petition came in the wake of a judge in juvenile court denying a “stand your ground” motion that claimed Sutherland was acting in self defense in the confrontation that took Trindade’s life.

After the case was transferred from the juvenile division to the circuit criminal division, a motion for rehearing for the “stand your ground” defense also was denied March 12.

“Here, petitioner asserted a claim of self-defense in his motion to dismiss,” the petition read. “At the evidentiary hearing, the trial court applied the wrong standard in determining the defense failed to establish a prima facie case of self-defense and also refused to follow the law about placing the burden of proof on the state. This resulted in an improper denial of the petitioner’s motion.

“Section 776.012(1) states a person is justified in using non-deadly force against another when that person reasonably believes the conduct is necessary to defend himself against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force,” it read. “Sutherland testified to exactly that, once the unknown individual raised his hands in an apparent fighting stance Sutherland believed a fight was about to ensue and acted in self-defense by delivering a single strike.”

The ongoing case has revealed details over time about that fateful night in Winter Park’s Central Park. Reports indicate that a juvenile suspect — along with fellow suspects Sutherland and Simeon Hall — was walking through Central Park that night and chose to spray Trindade with a foul-smelling spray as a joke. A confrontation broke out shortly after, and Trindade was later found brain dead in the park. He was put on life support but was taken off days later.

That third juvenile suspect charged with tampering with a witness and battery recently was sentenced on Feb. 16 to a non-secure residential commitment — a residential program for troubled youths – followed by post commitment probation until his 19th birthday in 2022.

Trindade’s mother, Adriana, spoke in the courtroom on Feb. 16 about her son’s kind heart and spirit and that he never would have tried to start a fight that night in Central Park.

“We never thought Winter Park would be a dangerous place,” she said. “I believed it was safe. He killed my son with just punching him. … Every day I wake up trying to understand.”

Sutherland and Hall both face charges of manslaughter and battery and are being tried as adults.