Jury can’t reach verdict in infant beating trial allegations
Jurors in a trial of a man charged with beating his seven-week-old child couldn’t reach a verdict on three of four counts after 36-hours of deliberating, says Toronto criminal lawyer Roots Gadhia. Toronto Sun
Gadhia, who represented 23-year-old John Rosa during the four-week trial, says the jury was hung on charges of aggravated assault and assault that left the boy, now three, disabled. Jurors did find her client guilty on a charge of failing to provide the necessities of life for not taking the child to the hospital sooner than he did.
“The jury worked very hard and I feel for them,” she says of how trying a matter like this one can be. “It was a difficult case and when they gave the verdict, you could see it on their faces that they were upset that they couldn’t come to a unanimous decision on all of the charges.”
Jurors came back to court with questions numerous times over the course of the deliberations, adds Gadhia.
“It is disappointing in some way because it doesn’t resolve anything and no one wins,” she says. “The baby certainly didn’t.”
Gadhia says that the Crown plans to seek another trial against Rosa on the two counts the jury couldn’t reach a verdict on.
A sentencing hearing for Rosa on the one charge will take place on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. before Justice Ian MacDonnell at the 361 University Ave. courthouse.
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