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New trial in police killing sought two decades later
By Gary V. Murray Telegram & Gazette Staff
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WORCESTER- Nearly 20 years after he and two other men were convicted of murdering state Trooper George L. Hanna in Auburn, Miguel Angel Rosado is seeking a new trial.
In a motion pending in Worcester Superior Court, Mr. Rosado, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 1985, maintains he did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to testify at trial because he was not properly advised by his lawyer, Donald D. Deren, who has since died.
After a hearing yesterday, Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr. said he would decide soon whether to grant Mr. Rosado's request for an evidentiary hearing on his motion, or act on the basis of affidavits filed in the case.
Mr. Rosado, now 54, was one of three men found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Trooper Hanna in the parking lot of a liquor store on Route 20 in Auburn on Feb. 26, 1983. Mr. Rosado and his co-defendants, Jose Anibal Colon and Abimael Colon-Cruz, were convicted after separate trials. Their convictions were affirmed by the state Supreme Judicial Court in 1990.
The three men, each armed with a handgun, were pulled over by Trooper Hanna and ordered out of their vehicle in the parking lot of J&S Liquors. A struggle broke out while Trooper Hanna was frisking one of the three, and the trooper was shot by Mr. Colon. The 36-year-old father of three died of multiple gunshot wounds.
During yesterday's hearing, Mr. Rosado's lawyer, Alan J. Black, said he was appointed to the case in 1999 by the state Committee for Public Counsel Services after Mr. Rosado's former appellate lawyer, Andrew L. Mandell, became a judge. Mr. Black told Judge Agnes there was a lengthy Committee for Public Counsel Services screening process before he was appointed to represent Mr. Rosado on his motion for a new trial and that he then had to familiarize himself with the facts of the case.
Assistant District Attorney David Waterfall said Mr. Rosado had failed to establish that an evidentiary hearing was necessary and urged Judge Agnes to decide on the motion without one. Citing the "extreme delay" in getting the motion before the court, Mr. Waterfall attacked the credibility of Mr. Rosado's affidavit. He also claimed that Mr. Rosado was not prejudiced by not testifying at trial because his statement to police, in which he denied responsibility for the killing, was entered into evidence.
By Gary V. Murray Telegram & Gazette Staff
[email protected]
WORCESTER- Nearly 20 years after he and two other men were convicted of murdering state Trooper George L. Hanna in Auburn, Miguel Angel Rosado is seeking a new trial.
In a motion pending in Worcester Superior Court, Mr. Rosado, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 1985, maintains he did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to testify at trial because he was not properly advised by his lawyer, Donald D. Deren, who has since died.
After a hearing yesterday, Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr. said he would decide soon whether to grant Mr. Rosado's request for an evidentiary hearing on his motion, or act on the basis of affidavits filed in the case.
Mr. Rosado, now 54, was one of three men found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Trooper Hanna in the parking lot of a liquor store on Route 20 in Auburn on Feb. 26, 1983. Mr. Rosado and his co-defendants, Jose Anibal Colon and Abimael Colon-Cruz, were convicted after separate trials. Their convictions were affirmed by the state Supreme Judicial Court in 1990.
The three men, each armed with a handgun, were pulled over by Trooper Hanna and ordered out of their vehicle in the parking lot of J&S Liquors. A struggle broke out while Trooper Hanna was frisking one of the three, and the trooper was shot by Mr. Colon. The 36-year-old father of three died of multiple gunshot wounds.
During yesterday's hearing, Mr. Rosado's lawyer, Alan J. Black, said he was appointed to the case in 1999 by the state Committee for Public Counsel Services after Mr. Rosado's former appellate lawyer, Andrew L. Mandell, became a judge. Mr. Black told Judge Agnes there was a lengthy Committee for Public Counsel Services screening process before he was appointed to represent Mr. Rosado on his motion for a new trial and that he then had to familiarize himself with the facts of the case.
Assistant District Attorney David Waterfall said Mr. Rosado had failed to establish that an evidentiary hearing was necessary and urged Judge Agnes to decide on the motion without one. Citing the "extreme delay" in getting the motion before the court, Mr. Waterfall attacked the credibility of Mr. Rosado's affidavit. He also claimed that Mr. Rosado was not prejudiced by not testifying at trial because his statement to police, in which he denied responsibility for the killing, was entered into evidence.
