Apr 12, 2007 11:05 am US/Eastern
More Testimony In Middle School Murder Case
Jaime Gough Murdered At Southwood Middle
Michael Hernandez Charged With 1st Degree Murder
Attorney Wants Hernandez Confession Thrown Out
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Testimony continues Thursday in a hearing for a teenager accused of killing a classmate in school, just one day after the victim's family heard the taped confession in court.
Prosecutors played Michael Hernandez's confession for the judge in a hearing where Hernandez's attorney is trying to get the confession, and evidence found in Hernandez's backpack, thrown out as evidence.
Hernandez was 14 years old when he was charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 3, 2004 death of his classmate Jamie Gough, 14, at Southwood Middle School in Palmetto Bay.
He watched himself on videotape telling a police detective that he remembered stabbing Gough on the "left side of his face", and on the victim's "temple". The victim's family listened and watched, breaking down in tears, in the courtroom.
Gough had more than 40 stab and slash wounds to his neck, face and hands, and Hernandez confessed to the killing after he was pulled from class that day wearing blood-speckled clothes. Prosecutors say he also had a bloody knife in his backpack when he was arrested.
His attorney, Richard Rosenbaum is fighting to get Circuit Judge John Schlesinger to throw out the taped confession because Hernandez's parents were barred from the police interview and he had no attorney present. In addition, Rosenbaum claims that Hernandez is schizophrenic and psychotic and couldn't have understood his right not to talk to police.
Miami-Dade detective Sal Garafalo testified Tuesday that Hernandez was rational and coherent when he talked to investigators after the murder. In addition, a second detective testified that Hernandez said "he didn't want to be seen like Hannibal Lechter".
A journal found in Hernandez's backpack after the slaying displayed a fascination with serial killers, violence and prayer. It also outlined plans to kill Gough and another boy. That other boy told police that he refused to enter a handicapped stall in the bathroom when Hernandez said he wanted to show him something. Gough's body was found in the same stall the next day.
A psychologist hired by the defense said Hernandez suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. While a judge did acknowledge that Hernandez has a mental illness, he wrote that it does not interfere with his mental competency to stand trial.
For Jaime Gough's family, the entire process has been heartbreaking. Jorge Gough, Jaime's father told CBS4 News that his family is still having a hard time coping. "I can't wait to get this over with. This has been dragging on for three years and it's been very hard especially for my wife and daughter."
Hernandez is being tried as an adult with first-degree murder and faces life in prison if he's convicted.
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