Rojas v. State

Officers found the stabbing victim's blood on the defendant's shorts and the defendant's bloody fingerprint inside the victim's apartment.

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Following a jury trial, Jose Felix Rojas was convicted for the felony murder of Franklin Hernan Carreno.1 Rojas now appeals this conviction, contending among other things, that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. 1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that, on June 9, 2003, Rojas, Carreno, and John Garcia were drinking alcoholic beverages at a party late into the evening. When the party ended, Garcia phoned his girlfriend, Maria Bermudez, and asked her to drive him, Rojas, and Carreno to their homes. Bermudez picked them up and drove all of them to Carreno’s apartment, where the four continued to drink and party until the early hours of the morning. The noise of their revelry woke Carreno’s roommate, Wilfredo Mayor, who then left the apartment to go to work. Sometime thereafter, Garcia and Bermudez left, and Rojas and Carreno were alone in the apartment for some time. When Carreno’s roommate returned home the following afternoon, he found the apartment in complete disarray and covered in blood spatter. He then discovered Carreno’s body on the floor in his bedroom. Carreno had been stabbed 22 times, with a fatal neck wound that severed his carotid artery and jugular vein. The blade of a kitchen knife was found at the scene, and a bloody fingerprint belonging to Rojas was discovered inside the apartment. Carreno’s blood was found on the shorts that Rojas was wearing on the night of the murder.

On the day after the murder, a friend of Rojas found him sleeping and disoriented in her carport. Rojas had wounds on his feet, hand, and on the back of his head. Rojas later went to the police voluntarily, and he told them that he could not remember the events of the night in question. He further stated that he had never been to Carreno’s apartment, but he believed that he and Carreno had been attacked by unknown persons.

Rojas v. State

Officers found the stabbing victim's blood on the defendant's shorts and the defendant's bloody fingerprint inside the victim's apartment.

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