Former Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo has been discovered responsible on two fees associated to the dying of his 27-year-old pregnant loverFILE - Puerto Rican boxer Felix Verdejo poses after his weigh-in at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York, June 10, 2016. A jury on Friday, July 28, 2023, discovered Verdejo responsible on two of …
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Former Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo was discovered responsible Friday on two fees associated to the dying of his 27-year-old pregnant lover.
The decision got here after a 25-week trial through which the jury heard ugly particulars concerning the April 2021 killing of Keishla Rodríguez that shocked the U.S. territory.
The jury convicted Verdejo on the cost of kidnapping that results in a dying and one rely of inflicting the dying of an unborn baby. The 12 jurors couldn’t attain unanimous verdicts on the cost of intercepting and stealing car with the consequence of inflicting a dying or the cost of carrying a weapon to commit a violent crime.
U.S. District Choose Pedro Delgado Hernandez set a Nov. 3 sentencing session, at which Verdejo may face a penalty of as much as life in jail.
Federal prosecutors relied on the testimony of greater than 30 folks, together with key witness Luis Antonio Cádiz, a good friend of Verdejo who additionally was charged within the case. He pleaded responsible final 12 months after reaching a plea cope with prosecutors however hasn’t been sentenced.
Cádiz testified that Verdejo had pressured Rodríguez to get an abortion earlier than she was killed.
He testified that the day of the killing, Verdejo punched Rodríguez and injected her with a substance that Cádiz believed to be heroin earlier than they each tied her limbs to a cement block and threw her off a busy bridge in broad daylight.
A pathologist testified that Rodríguez, 27, was nonetheless alive when she was thrown into the lagoon beneath the bridge.
Cádiz stated he made an nameless 911 name days later to supply the situation of Rodríguez’s physique.
An post-mortem decided Rodríguez had fentanyl and xylazine, a sedative used for horses and different animals, in her system.
Her dying outraged many in Puerto Rico who preserve demanding that authorities do a greater job of defending home violence victims.
Verdejo represented Puerto Rico on the 2012 Olympics and have become knowledgeable boxer that 12 months. He completed his profession within the light-weight division with a 27-2 document, with 17 knockouts.
