Accomplice to Rosa murder sentenced to 15 years in prison
Bridget Feliciano will never get back her son, but she said Thursday in New London Superior Court that she is satisfied with the outcome of the court cases of the two men involved in the Nov. 12, 2011, shooting death of Jorge Rosa.
“Everything worked out the way it should,” she said.
Evan J. “Hot Boy” Holmes, who was convicted in 2013 of murdering Rosa in his bed at his Montauk Avenue apartment, is serving a 70-year sentence.
On Thursday, Davion “Banga” Smith, who pleaded guilty to breaking into the apartment with Rosa that night in the midst of a trial in June, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for home invasion.
Feliciano hugged victim advocate Beth Ann Hess and prosecutors Paul J. Narducci and Saran W. Bowman and left the courthouse with family members after the sentencing hearing.
Smith’s relatives said goodbye to defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan and walked out in the same direction.
Though Feliciano had not spoken with Smith’s mother during the many court appearances that preceded Thursday’s disposition, she said she had mixed feelings because Smith, at one point, was a friend of her son, nicknamed “Loco.”
According to his attorney, Smith, now 22, was a senior at New London High School, on track to graduate, when he accompanied Holmes, who was fresh out of prison after serving 18 months for an unrelated shooting, to the Montauk Avenue apartment.
The New London Whalers had played football that afternoon, and some of the young people who watched the game went to a late-night party and an after-hours club downtown.
At the WildStyle Motorcycle Club, Holmes had an altercation with a man named Todd “T.O.” Silva, according to court testimony.
Holmes wanted revenge, and Smith took him to Silva’s apartment on Montauk Avenue, where Smith had gone a few days earlier for a get-together. The two men forced entry into the apartment.
Silva wasn’t home, but Rosa was sleeping in a front bedroom with his girlfriend of a few months, Gabriel Gonzalez.
“I’m not a big believer in coincidences, but it happened that Ms. Gonzalez was the former girlfriend of Mr. Holmes,” said Narducci, the prosecutor, during his recitation of the facts of the case.
Holmes shot Rosa 10 times, and Rosa, 25, father of a young daughter, died a short time later, according to the court testimony.
Gonzalez testified that Smith also had a gun, but Narducci said testing determined all the bullets had come from the same gun and that no gun associated with Smith was recovered.
Smith, who remained at large until March 2012, when he was captured by New London Police as he tried to flee the New London apartment of a relative, went to trial in October 2013 for felony murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary, first-degree burglary and home invasion.
In the midst of the trial, the state offered him the opportunity to plead guilty to the home invasion charge in exchange for a prison sentence of 25 years in prison, suspended after 15 years served, followed by three years of probation.
The home invasion charge carries a 10-year mandatory sentence.
Narducci said that during Smith’s trial, the state received records that it had requested many times in response to Smith’s assertion that he was at a Super 8 Motel when the shooting occurred.
The information, which was “somewhat inculpatory,” was turned over to the defense, and Narducci said that while the prosecution felt confident about its case against Smith, they decided to keep open a plea offer that had been extended prior to the trial. Narducci called the disposition “a rough equivalent of justice.”
In her sentencing remarks, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein told Smith that he would have to make a decision.
“Is it the street life, with guns and death that you want to choose?” the judge said. She said Rosa may have had some issues, but he also had a lot of good qualities.
“There’s no reason he should have been gunned down,” Strackbein said.
Smith, who had changed from prison scrubs into dress clothes for the proceeding, opted not to address the court.
k.florin@theday.com
Twitter: @KFLORIN
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