A Hispanic murderer may escape the death penalty because of where he grew up

The lawyer for Manuel De Jesus Rosales, accused of slitting the throat of his baby grandson and attempting to stab his daughter to death, plans to file a motion to bar the use of the death penalty. The attorney claimed that it would be too dangerous to travel to his client’s native Honduras to gather information about his past. Assistant public defender Neil McLoughlin told Judge Margaret Steinbeck that his life would be put at risk if he went to the Honduran coast notorious for narcotics trafficking where Rosales lived for the first 25 years of his life. Rosales, who now lives in Lehigh Acres, Florida was charged with murder in the 2010 slaying. He slit three-month-old Josue Rosales’ throat in front of the infant’s mother, Karminda Rosales Salazar, Rosales’ daughter. As she lay bleeding in the driveway of their home, suffering stab wounds to her neck, Rosales said to her: ‘here’s your b******. He is known in his neighborhood for being an abusive heavy drinker. The state is seeking the death penalty against Rosales and the trial has been set for September 2012.