The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN yesterday admitted responsibility for the second time in a decade for the throat-slashing murder of a Spanish teacher.

Sherman Rodriguez, 37, appeared before Justice Roy Jones for the start of his retrial that had been ordered by the Court of Appeal in June 2012 concerning the slaying of Dale Hepburn on November 2, 2004.

Hepburn, a teacher of Spanish at S C McPherson High School, was found dead in her home off Carmichael Road on the morning in question.

Rodriguez called the police control room at 8 o’clock that morning and said he had killed a woman during an attempted robbery between midnight and 1am on November 1 and 2, 2004.

The officers arrested him at Pizza Hut on Cable Beach.

Rodriguez, while in custody, said that he went to Hepburn’s home on Antigua Street to get money to buy cocaine and alcohol. The accused, who lived across the street, reportedly got into the home by asking Hepburn to use her phone. Rodriguez, who was high on drugs, surprised Hepburn with an eight-inch knife, and she sustained severe injuries, including a severed windpipe, during the struggle that followed.

When he appeared before Supreme Court Justice Vera Watkins for the start of his trial, Rodriguez took a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty, which, prior to March 2006, was mandatory upon a murder conviction.

However, prosecutors did not go along with the original deal of 20 years imprisonment and Rodriguez found himself sentenced to 60 years instead.

His lawyer, Jerone Roberts, successfully challenged the conviction and sentence to the appellate court on the basis that the Crown, in statute law, had breached the terms of the plea agreement.

The appellate court handed down the decision in June 2012 and Rodriguez went on be granted bail in the Supreme Court while awaiting retrial, which was eventually set before Justice Jones for yesterday.

Justice Jones’ court clerk read the charge and particulars to Rodriguez who, when allowed to plea, answered: “Guilty.”

His lawyer, Christina Galanos, asked the court for a short adjournment of the sentencing proceedings.

“Given the posture of Mr Rodriguez, we would like some time to put together a plea in mitigation,” Ms Galanos said.

Justice Jones adjourned the matter to July 13, a date with which prosecutor Kevin Farrington agreed.