Almost a year after Florida Atlantic University sophomore Nicholas Acosta was robbed and shot to death off-campus in Boca Raton, a trial began Monday for a classmate accused of fully participating in the crimes.
Prosecutors say Donovan Malik Henry, 19, of Miramar, then a FAU freshman and soccer player, joined four “criminal partners” in the Dec. 29 violence at the University Park Apartments complex.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Brian Fernandes said in his opening statement to the jury that 19-year-old Acosta was shot and killed, right in front of his girlfriend, during what was supposed to be a drug sale. Henry didn’t pull the trigger but is just as responsible as the others, the prosecutor said.
“A quarter-pound of marijuana is the price he put on the life of Nicholas Acosta,” Fernandes said of Henry’s alleged role that night, with the assailants splitting the marijuana five ways.
Scott Skier, attorney for Henry, did not give opening remarks to the jurors Monday but reserved the right to do so later in the trial.
“We very much look forward to presenting our version of the facts to a jury,” Skier told the Sun Sentinel last month.
In pretrial pleadings, Skier argued his client had no idea Acosta would be robbed let alone killed during the drug buy. Henry was “a pawn” of the real robbers, the defense lawyer said.
Fernandes, however, said Henry knew the scene would turn violent for Acosta and even warned the other men, “At the very least you’ll have to beat him.”
Within two months of the killing, Boca Raton police arrested Henry along with cousins Alexander Gillis and Adonis Gillis, and Rodrick Demetrius Woods, all from Miami Gardens. Police have identified Alexander Gillis as the shooter, which he has denied.
A fifth man, seen wearing a mask on surveillance footage, has not been apprehended.
Henry’s case is the first to come to trial, although Woods in July pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder and has promised to testify as a key witness against Henry and his co-defendants.
The Gillis cousins’ trials are scheduled to begin in late January, also on charges of first-degree murder, burglary and robbery, all with a firearm.
Fernandes, with prosecutor Reid Scott, said a planned robbery turned deadly, when Acosta was shot twice by one of the intruders after he and his girlfriend, Kayla Bartosiewicz, were ordered to the ground about 7:20 p.m., inside a unit they shared with another roommate.
“Her boyfriend was murdered right before her eyes,” Fernandes told the jury, promising testimony from Bartosiewicz. She picked Henry out of a police photo lineup.
Henry had arranged to purchase the marijuana from Acosta, but the drug deal was a “mere ruse” for Henry and his accomplices to steal from the victim, the prosecutors said.
Acosta had texted Henry the gate code to enter the complex parking lot, and Henry rode an elevator with the others up to the apartment, prosecutor Scott noted in a pretrial pleading.
Then, Henry “acted as the diversion for the robbery” by entering the unit first with another man, Scott wrote. The three others soon forced their way inside.
“What’s going on?” were Acosta’s last words, according to a police report, which also notes that a plastic bag of marijuana was missing from a kitchen counter immediately after the shooting and the assailants fled the scene.
They took two cars back to Miami Gardens, Fernandes said, adding that the jury will be able to review apartment complex surveillance videos, phone records and social media posts between the defendants from before and after the shooting.
The trial, before Circuit Judge Krista Marx, will continue Tuesday with witnesses for the prosecution and is expected to conclude by the end of the week.
Source http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-fau-student-murder-trial-opens-20161205-story.html
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