A six-member jury took only two hours to find Indian River County Administrator Joe Baird not guilty of DUI late Wednesday afternoon.

Baird, noticeably jubilant, sat with his attorney Bobby Guttridge as the court clerk read the verdict at 3:57 p.m. Baird then hugged his girlfriend and deferred comments to his attorney, before leaving the courthouse. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — After Julia Rolon-Estrada died of a gunshot wound to the artery in her leg on July 26, 2006, she was wrapped in a blue tarp and again in a green blanket before being buried in the yard of her Port St. Lucie home, near a rear sliding glass door.

A dog trained to find cadavers helped authorities locate the newly tilled grave, which was covered with a wooden pallet holding 20 mulch bags stacked on top.

Rolon-Estrada’s jailed husband, 43-year-old Albert Estrada, state prosecutors say, is the man guilty of killing his wife and high-school sweatheart, who had walked out on him the night before she died at age 39.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — It was an “all night” argument over infidelity — complete with a purported audio tape of the “cheating” — that culminated with a woman stabbing her boyfriend of several years, according to a recently released arrest affidavit and police.

Police said they met the victim Thursday morning at St. Lucie Medical Center, where his girlfriend, Jennece Cordella Shaw, drove him after the incident. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — One year ago, a 6-year-old autistic boy was brought to the front of his classroom. He left moments later feeling like an outcast.

For many, he became a symbol of how children with autism are mistreated and misunderstood.

Some experts say the case of Alex Barton, who was voted out of his kindergarten classroom 14-to-2, brought about change and awareness of how autistic children are educated. Others say there still is a long way to go. (more…)

Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing

A jury has sentenced Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya to death for killing the Escobedo family of four along Florida’s Turnpike in St. Lucie County.

The federal death penalty is different from the state of Florida’s death sentence in many ways.

Only 51 inmates are on federal Death Row in Terre Haute, Ind. Florida houses 392. Crimes punishable by the federal death penalty include genocide, killing witnesses, in a trial, terrorism and murder committed as part of a drug enterprise.

Florida has executed 67 men and women since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976. The feds have executed three men since Congress reinstated it in 1988. Some of the more famous of those executed were Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted of sabotage for selling atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

Here’s some of those executed since 1927:

James Horace Alderman

1927: James Horace Alderman, known as “King of the Rumrunners,” was intercepted by a Coast Guard vessel 30 miles off Florida’s coast. His boat was laden with alcohol during the era of Prohibition. As Alderman boarded the vessel, he pulled out his pistol. When two Coast Guardsmen and a Secret Service agent rushed him, he shot them all dead. Later, his execution was scheduled for the Broward County Jail, but the county wanted it to occur on federal property. So a makeshift gallows was erected at the Coast Guard hangar.

“When this is read I will have passed over the brink of eternity into the Great Beyond. “I would like to state through the medium of The Miami Herald that I am feeling fine, physically, mentally and spiritually. With the wonderful comfort and strength that I received from Jesus Christ, I am assured that when tomorrow comes I will go with smiles of comfort on my face. … “As I sit here in my cell I can look back and see just what caused me to be where I am today. Drunkenness first starts a young man to gambling — and swearing grows on him — and from that step he becomes hardened in his heart in envy and hatred toward mankind. Then, as he grows up, he becomes what you would call educated to crime. Bootlegging and smuggling is the next step. And there are other angles of downfall that lead to the devil. “The money I made neither did me nor my dear family any good. We thought it did, but no. You can see what it has done — a death sentence by hanging — and a broken-hearted family.”

Read the 1929 Time magazine account of his hanging, here. (more…)

A fox suspected of having rabies reportedly bit a 58-year-old woman on her hand and leg Tuesday night after the animal ran in her house, according to officials and a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office report released Wednesday.

The fox, described as gray and the size of a house cat, reportedly also bit a neighbor and attacked the car of his 17-year-old daughter before the daughter ran over the fox. The incident happened in the 10000 block of Bluefield Road in the western portion of the county, and the 58-year-old woman said she “somehow” got the fox out of her home.

James Moses, environmental administrator for the St. Lucie County Health Department, said the fox was recovered and is being tested at a state laboratory in Lantana to determine whether it has rabies. He suspects the fox had rabies “based on the description of the animal’s actions.”

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WEST PALM BEACH — Rob Murphy loves talking about his spearfishing adventures. Since earning his scuba diving certification last year, he estimates he has made almost 400 dives.

But Murphy will never forget his last dive on Jan. 9 when while surfacing in waters northeast of the St. Lucie Inlet, Murphy was struck by a passing boat. The boat operated by Roger Nicosia, an emergency room physician at Martin Memorial Medical Center North, severed Murphy’s legs.

Murphy lost nearly half his blood. He was lucky to escape with his life, and doctors couldn’t save his legs. (more…)

STUART — A Palm Beach County man lost his legs after being run over by a boat while diving near a popular Martin County park Friday afternoon, according to state officials.

Robert Murphy, 26, was among divers who were spear-fishing in the St. Lucie River near Sandsprit Park around 2 p.m., said state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro.

A 38-foot boat named the Master Plan and driven by Roger Nicosia of Stuart hit the diver.

Murphy was flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. Ferraro said both of Murphy’s legs had to be amputated. She did not know if he was hit by the propeller or the body of the boat or how fast the boat was going. The area where the divers were swimming is near the “Crossroads,” a high-traffic waterway at the St. Lucie Inlet where the St. Lucie and Indian rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean.

Investigators have not determined the cause of the accident, but were interviewing witnesses and the boat’s occupants at Sandsprit Park on Friday. The Master Plan was towed to a nearby boat yard for examination.

Nicosia told investigators that the boat was having propeller problems, Ferraro said.

Jason Schultz

FELLSMERE — Visitors to the 18th annual Frog Leg Festival will, for the first time on city property, be able to drink a beer with their food.

And the festival organizers will be able to collect the additional proceeds in their ongoing mission to boost the efforts of recreational agencies.

“I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, ‘I’d like to come out (to the festival), but I’d want to have a beer with my frog legs or gator tail,’ ” festival President Maggie Sammons said Thursday. (more…)

Police are looking for the man who shot two teens in the leg on Saturday after a fight at a restaurant spilled outside, police said.

The fight took place inside the Denny’s on U.S. 1 and then continued outside to the parking lot, where two teens were standing at about 2:30 a.m., police said. Both were shot in the leg, police spokesman Sgt. Marty Jacobson said.

Management shut down the restaurant and called police when the shots were fired, police said.

Witnesses told officers a man had brandished a revolver and shot the two teens as they stood in the parking lot. He then fled north in a vehicle, police said.

One victim was treated at the scene and transported to the hospital, and the second victim had admitted himself to the hospital for a gunshot wound, police said.

Police are not releasing any other details on the incident, including whether the teens were involved in the fight, police spokesman Jacobson said.

Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to contact the Stuart Police Department at (772) 220-3906 or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at (800) 273-TIPS.