Defense Rests in Rodriguez Trial
By: Lauren Murphy
Updated: March 27, 2008
The last image the jury saw was Rosendo Rodriguez wearing aviator sunglass and a smile.
The took that picture with his cell phone September 13, 2005, the day he took a Greyhound bus back to San Antonio.
It was also the day Summer Baldwin’s body was discovered in a city landfill.
The prosecution presented the webpages Rodriguez viewed shortly before his arrest. He read news articles about the body found in the landfill, and another about a missing Lubbock teenager.
The medical examiner showed photographs of Baldwin beaten beyond recognition.
Her face, head, shoulders, back, and genitals were nearly covered in bruises.
Some of the photographs were so graphic, the prosecution choose not to show them.
They used diagrams instead.
They did, however, show the jury a picture of Baldwin’s ten week-old fetus.
The prosecution was out to prove that fetus was healthy, and would have lived if Rodriguez had never gotten his hands on the mother.
The defense would like the jury to believe Baldwin’s injuries could have occurred in the dumpster or the landfill, but the medical examiner testified she suffered those blows during or shortly before her death.
He also said Baldwin may have been beaten unconscious and stuffed in that suitcase still alive.
The defense did not call a single witness.
Closing arguments begin Friday morning.
