The prosecution on Monday responded in court records to deny claims that evidence was unfairly withheld from Rosendo Rodriguez’s defense team.
Rodriguez is scheduled to be executed on March 27, 2018 for the murder of Summer Baldwin. Rodriguez is also implicated in the disappearance and murder of Joanna Rogers.
The Baldwin case dates back to September 2005.
On February 20, the defense team argued that prosecutors had a duty to disclose a 2015 lawsuit and settlement with a former employee of the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s office, Dr. Luisa Florez, MD.
Florez made several claims in the 2015 lawsuit – including the allegation that Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Sridhar Natarajan, was taking credit for autopsy work that he did not personally do.
The defense claimed that prosecutors failed to disclose the existence of the lawsuit and settlement – calling it a Brady Violation. The defense asked for a stay of execution.
The prosecution responded by saying, “There has been no Brady violation…”
Rodriguez was convicted in 2008. Florez wasn’t even hired in the ME’s office until June of 2013, according to court records.
The prosecution points to Supreme Court cases that say Brady only applies before the conviction. The prosecution also said the information is not relevant to the case.
“In fact, Dr. Florez could not provide any relevant information about how the office was run in September of 2005,” the prosecution said.
The prosecution also quoted a settlement document between Dr. Florez and Lubbock County. It said in part:
“I [Dr. Florez] have no reason to believe that any opinions I have about the manner in which Dr. Natarajan or his employees operated the office affected the scientific validity of any findings made or opinions generated by the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office.”
Rodriguez’s motion claimed “egregious” conduct by the prosecution for not disclosing the 2015 lawsuit.
The prosecution responded: “The State necessarily could not have suppressed evidence that did not exist at any point prior to or at the time of Applicant’s trial.”
“There are no valid grounds for [Rodriguez’s] Motion for Stay of Execution to be granted,” the prosecution said.
A judge has not yet made a ruling on the request for a stay.
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