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Defendant testifies, ties killing to robber
He is charged with murder in death of his kids' mother
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Published: August 16, 2008
An unknown robber killed Rosenda Prudente-Rodriguez, the man on trial for her murder said yesterday.
Jose Valverde, 30, who faces one count of first-degree murder, gave that account in Forsyth Superior Court. Prudente-Rodriguez was the mother of his two children. She was 4½ months pregnant with his child when she was killed.
Valverde said that he and a friend stayed out drinking on the night of Jan. 16, 2006, until dawn the next day. While he was inside his SUV in the parking lot of his apartment complex off Cole Road, he said, a robber approached him and then sat in the passenger seat. Valverde said he gave the robber his wallet, which contained $500, and the man fled.
When Valverde went to his apartment, he noticed that the front door was ajar. Prudente-Rodriguez was dead inside, shot once in the head.
"I started to cry, to yell, and I didn't understand what had happened," he said.
He said he grabbed his then- 5-year-old son and got into his SUV to chase after the robber. The son testified Wednesday that he saw his father shoot his mother after an argument.
By Valverde's account, he lost control of the SUV and ran off Cole Road. He said he then went to a friend's house on Waughtown Street and had the friend drive him back to the apartment.
There, he called 911, he testified, and held Prudente-Rodriguez in his arms.
"When (the paramedic) told me that she was dead, I didn't want to accept it," he said. "Even today, I don't accept it."
Valverde is charged under the name Valverde-Liborio, but he testified yesterday that he changed his last name several years ago to Azuara Valverde. He told prosecutors to call him Valverde.
His attorney, David Botchin, told Judge Catherine Eagles that his client insisted on testifying.
"My client has informed me that I will know the truth -- what happened -- when he testifies, just like everybody else," Botchin said. "It's going against my recommendations in every way, shape or form."
Prosecutor Beirne Harding showed Valverde a crime-scene photo police of a table in his living room. It showed Valverde's checkbook and a wallet, with an identification card visible.
"Is that your wallet?" she asked Valverde.
"Yes -- that's one of my wallets," he said.
"You carried (another) wallet with you without any identification?" she said.
"Yes, exactly," he said.
Harding asked Valverde why he did not call 911 immediately, nor did he call after he reached a pay phone on Waughtown Street.
"In that moment, I was devastated and in an emotionally critical state," he said.
Instead, he called his friend Alejandro Miranda, who testified Thursday that he had seen Valverde with a gun two days before Prudente-Rodriguez was killed.
He described driving Valverde to the apartment and seeing Valverde's son Justin, a toddler, inside. Justin was walking toward his mother's body, crying, "Mama, mama!" Miranda said.
SBI agents have testified that Valverde had gunshot residue on his right hand, an indication that he fired a gun that night or was near a gun that had been fired.
Valverde said he had grabbed at the robber's gun with his right hand while they were in the SUV.
Police found unspent .22-caliber and .25-caliber bullets in Valverde's apartment. One of the .22-caliber bullets was on the floor of his closet, and three more were found in his SUV.
A .22-caliber bullet killed Prudente-Rodriguez. The medical examiner found it lodged in her head.
Valverde had said that he owned only a BB gun.
The weapon used in the homicide was never found.
Asked how the other bullets came to be in his apartment, he said that is a question for the robber, who must have dropped the bullets.
■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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