ANGELYN OGDOC - 2 1/2 yo (2010) - McLean VA

Defense Continues Building Insanity Defense in Tysons Corner Granddaughter Slaying Case
By Julie Carey | Monday, Oct 3, 2011

Testimony resumed Monday in the trial of a Fairfax County, Va., woman accused of killing her 2-year-old granddaughter in November 2010.

Carmela dela Rosa was mad at her son-in-law when she tossed Angelyn Ogdoc off a skywalk at Tysons Corner Center, prosecutors said. She resented the girl’s father for getting her daughter pregnant out of wedlock and marrying her young, according to the prosecution.

Dela Rosa’s defense maintains she was insane at the time and continued to build that case Monday.

Two Shenandoah National Park rangers carried to the stand pictures of dela Rosa's van lodged in an embankment off Skyline Drive. She reportedly tried to commit suicide there in late September 2010.

"I'm so sorry for all the wrong I’ve done,” read a note found near the crash. “I love you all from the bottom of my heart.”

It was the second apparent suicide attempt in the months before dela Rosa was charged in her granddaughters’ death murder.

Dela Rosa’s friends and longtime psychotherapist testified Monday that she's suffered bouts of depression for a decade but that her teenage daughter's pregnancy, a job loss and financial troubles sent her into a tailspin last year.

The second suicide attempt "told me she continued to be severely depressed and was spiraling down,” therapist Jeanne Marquis said. “She had never displayed this behavior before."

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Defense-Continues-Building-Insanity-Defense-in-Tysons-Corner-Granddaughter-Slaying-Case-131013113.html

Defense Expert Presents Essential Elements for Insanity Defense in Tysons Toddler Trial

Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 | Updated 9:45 PM EDT


Carmela dela Rosa couldn't distinguish between right and wrong and did not understand the consequences of her actions when she when she threw her 2-year-old granddaughter, Angelyn Ogdoc, off a Tysons Corner mall elevated walkway Nov. 29, concluded defense expert Michael Hendricks, a psychologist hired to evaluate the defendant. While he didn't declare dela Rosa insane, he laid out the elements essential for an insanity defense under Virginia law.

Hendricks spent two days with dela Rosa last February, more than two months after she was jailed and charged with murder in her granddaughter’s death. He diagnosed her with recurrent major depressive disorder with psychotic features.

"She was often slow to respond," Hendricks testified about the interview. "She spoke softly. Sometimes she didn't give me any response. It was almost like she couldn’t form the words."

Hendricks testified dela Rosa's deteriorating mental health last fall, including two suicide attempts in the months before the Tysons incident, led her to experience a type of psychosis that night. She believed her family was isolating her and secretly communicating to each other with special eye gestures. He also testified the defendant became hyper-focused on her son-in-law, James Ogdoc, whom she'd long blamed for getting her daughter pregnant before the couple married.

"She was getting more and more focused on her anger toward James and began thinking about Angelyn as looking more like James and hurting Angelyn as a way of getting back at him," Hendricks said.

He said Dela Rosa told him she first considered throwing Angelyn off the walkway as she watched the little girl play with the mall's electronic door, but something held her back. Later, as the family left the mall, she acted.

Hendricks said he was surprised "when I asked her what she intended to happen to Angelyn and she replied she hadn't intended her to get hurt at all."

Hendricks was also asked about dela Rosa's videotaped confession, in which she matter-of-factly described the crime to detectives. Her demeanor indicates dela Rosa was still in a delusional state, Hendricks said.

In cross examination, prosecutor Ray Morrogh suggested Hendricks had changed his diagnosis since his original report. Said Morrogh,

"Delusions were never mentioned," Morrogh said.

Hendricks agreed.

“So you're not saying she had any delusions on Nov. 29?” Morrogh asked.

"No overt delusions,” Hendricks replied.

"And no hallucinations?” Morrogh asked.

"No," Hendricks said.

Morrogh repeatedly challenged Hendricks’s conclusion that dela Rosa didn't understand the consequence of dropping Angelyn.

"Isn't it true that her letting her husband go ahead of her provides guidance that she knew she was about to do something wrong and didn't want to be stopped?" Morrogh asked.

"Not that she didn't want to be stopped,” Hendricks said. “She contemplated what she was about to do,"

"She was capable of understanding the consequences of throwing the baby off?" Morrogh pressed.

"I don't think that she was capable of understanding the consequences because of her constricted thinking," Hendricks said.

"Don't a lot of people who do bad things not consider the consequences?" the prosecutor asked.

"Sure," the witness said.

Morrogh also took aim at Hendricks’s finding that dela Rosa didn't know right from wrong at the time of the incident.

"She told the police she knew wrong from right?" he asked.

"Yes," Hendricks answered.

Testimony will conclude tomorrow and closing arguments are expected.

Carmela dela Rosa will not take the stand.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Defense-Expert-Presents-Essential-Elements-for-Insanity-Defense-in-Tysons-Toddler-Trial-131112843.html

Expert Witness Undercuts Carmen dela Rosa's Insanity Defense in Court
By Julie Carey and Tim Persinko | Wednesday, Oct 5, 2011 | Updated 8:36 PM EDT

Jurors in Fairfax County heard testimony Wednesday from the prosecution's mental health expert in the murder trial of Carmen dela Rosa.

The psychologist Stanton Samenow testified that in his opinion dela Rosa could tell the difference between right and wrong, undercutting her legal team's central defense.

When asked by the prosecutor whether he thought dela Rosa was a person out of touch with reality, Samenow replied, "Absolutely not."

"This is a woman who wanted things on her terms," Samenow said, "and when they did not go her way, she was angry."

Samenow interviewed dela Rosa for 10 hours over four days and also interviewed the woman's family.


He characterized dela Rosa' relationship with her family as "angry, uncompromising, unforgiving and difficult."

As evidence of these strained relations, Samenow told the court that dela Rosa once pulled a knife on her husband because she did not want him to leave for work. The psychologist also said dela Rosa felt lasting feelings of anger and betrayal towards her daughter because her teen pregnancy. The grandmother felt jealous, in his opinion, of the attention that the 2-year-old received in the household.

The psychologist did think that dela Rosa had a borderline personality disorder. However, he was emphatic that she was not psychotic, contradicting her legal team's insanity defense.

According to Samenow, dela Rosa had entertained thoughts of killing her granddaughter earlier in the evening during the family's visit to Tysons Corner but initially decided to wait. He said she seemed to be thinking rationally when she threw the toddler off a raised walkway.

"I asked, 'Would you have thrown the baby off if a police officer was standing nearly?' and she said, 'Of course not,'" Samenow testified.

In cross examination, the defense drew out of Samenow that in the 40 years he has served as an expert witness, he has made only one insanity finding.

Accused of offering an evaluation partial to the prosecution, Samenow responded, "I object to that characterization that I'm a hired gun."

The juror heard closing arguments Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutor Ray Morrogh called the incident "an evil choice, and said that when things don't go dela Rosa's way, she isolates herself or gets rid of the person.

"This is not something she chose to do," defense attorney Dawn Butorac argued. "It's going on inside her head. She could not control it."

Jurors deliberated until about 6:30 p.m. They will resume deliberations in the morning.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/131162203.html

Grandmother Guilty in Toddler's Death at Tysons Corner
Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 | Updated 8:43 PM EDT

A jury found a Virginia woman guilty of first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old granddaughter, News4's Julie Carey reported.

The jury recommended a sentence of 35 years in prison for Carmela dela Rosa. The prosecution sought a life sentence.

Dela Rosa threw Angelyn Ogdoc off the sixth-level walkway connecting a parking garage to Tysons Corner Center on Nov. 29. The toddler died hours later.

Dela Rosa's defense tried to prove she was mentally ill and legally insane at the time. Dela Rosa claimed she did not know right from wrong when she threw Angelyn.

Dela Rosa intentionally killed the child out of anger toward James Ogdoc, her son-in-law, prosecutors argued. She did not forgive him for getting her daughter pregnant out of wedlock.

Dela Rosa confessed to police after the incident. In the videotape of her statement, dela Rosa said that when Ogdoc called his wife as she dined with family at Tysons Corner that night, it triggered something in her and she formed the plan to throw Angelyn off the walkway. She told detectives that she saw Angelyn as a way to get back at her son-in-law.

Mall security video showed dela Rosa carrying Angelyn out of the mall after urging everyone to go ahead of her then going to the rail to drop the girl.

Dela Rosa twice attempted suicide in the months leading up to the incident. Friends and her longtime psychotherapist testified that dela Rosa suffered bouts of depression for a decade but went into a tailspin last year after her daughter's pregnancy. Public defender Dawn Butorac argued that dela Rosa was a different woman in her depressive episodes, withdrawn and "afraid of the world" to the point that she regularly refused to leave the house.

The judge will sentence dela Rosa in January. The judge can reduce the sentence from 35 years but can't exceed the jury's recommendation.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/131262754.html

Judge Releases Video of Convicted Tysons Toddler Killer's Police Interview
Saturday, Oct 8, 2011 | Updated 9:58 AM EDT


A judge released video evidence from the trial of a woman who threw her granddaughter off an elevated walkway at Tysons Corner.

A jury convicted Carmela dela Rosa Thursday of first-degree murder for throwing 2-year-old Angelyn Ogdoc to her death in November.

In a videotaped confession to police, dela Rosa said that she "just lost it" and did a "terrible thing."

“I lost my mind,” she said.

Dela Rosa's defense had claimed she didn't know right from wrong, but the jury rejected the insanity defense.

Dela Rosa intentionally killed the child out of anger toward James Ogdoc, her son-in-law, prosecutors argued. She did not forgive him for getting her daughter pregnant out of wedlock.

In the videotaped confession, dela Rosa also said she was jealous of the attention Angelyn received.

“Everybody loves her,” she said.

The judge also released surveillance video from the mall of the family arriving at the mall for dinner and leaving, with dela Rosa carrying the child, just before dropping her off the walkway.

The jury recommended a sentence of 35 years in prison for Carmela dela Rosa. The prosecution sought a life sentence. The judge will issue a sentence in January. The crime carries a minimum of 20 years.


http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Convicted-Granddaughter-Killer-I-Lost-My-Mind-131361963.html

Public defender Dawn Butorac did her best to convince the jury that
Carmela dela Rosa was insane when she scooped up her 2-year-old
granddaughter and tossed her over a parking-garage railing 44 feet to
her death.

But Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh
just didn’t buy it. In his closing argument last week to the jury
trying the 50-year-old Fairfax woman for first-degree murder, he said,
“This isn’t insanity. It’s depravity.”

In the end, following a
weeklong trial in Circuit Court, on Oct. 6, the jury of eight men and
four women agreed, finding Dela Rosa guilty of first-degree murder and
recommending she be sentenced to 35 years in prison. In January, she’ll
learn her punishment.

The tragedy occurred the evening of Nov.
29, 2010, on a sixth-floor, outdoor walkway leading from the food court
to a parking garage at the Tysons Corner Center. The child, Angelyn
Ogdoc, was rushed to Inova Fairfax Hospital in critical condition and
died there, around 4:30 a.m., the next morning.

During the course
of Dela Rosa’s trial, it was revealed that she harbored bitter
animosity toward her son-in-law, James Ocdoc, for getting her daughter
Kathlyn pregnant with Angelyn at age 19 before the couple wed. Although
they later married and were happy, Dela Rosa never forgave James.

Her
anger even kept her from attending Angelyn’s first-birthday party and
led to depression and suicide attempts. Through it all, testified
clinical psychologist Stanton Samenow, a pattern emerged, one showing a
selfish woman who considered her feelings more important than anyone
else’s.

When Dela Rosa tried to kill herself, he said, she was
“self-centered” in that she didn’t think about the impact it would have
on her family. And after examining her, talking to witnesses and reading
“voluminous” medical documents, said Samenow, he wrote that she’d done
everything she could to drive away her son-in-law.

In an
interview following her arrest, which was played in court, she even
admitted to police Det. Steve Needels that she was jealous of the
attention Angelyn got from the family. “Everybody loves her,” she told
him. And when James, who was at work when the rest of the family was
together at the mall, that night, called his wife at the shopping
center, it was the final straw.

“When you picked [Angelyn] up,
what were you thinking of?” Needels asked Dela Rosa. She replied, “I was
thinking about James.” And not once during her lengthy interview with
the detective did she inquire about her granddaughter’s condition.
Angelyn died about six hours later.

In court, Samenow testified
that Dela Rosa complained about being “betrayed and disappointed”
because of the child. “But she’s the one who pushed people away,” he
said. “People couldn’t live up to her often-unrealistic expectations.
When having a major depressive episode, she isolated herself. She wasn’t
a very social person.”

He said she had “a clear, personality
disorder [and] had it for many, many years. She was uncompromising and
opinionated.” In fact, said Samenow, Dela Rosa’s husband had almost
separated from her because of her attitude about Kathlyn’s pregnancy.
“She was insecure and her behavior ran to extremes.”

Butorac said
some friends and neighbors described Dela Rosa as kind, friendly and
someone who loved her granddaughter. But, countered Samenow, “There’s a
lot of hate in this woman. A person can do good, sincere things; but
inside, there is another set of forces churning.”

Judge Bruce
White told the jurors that, to convict her of first-degree murder, they
had to believe that Dela Rosa killed Angelyn maliciously and that the
crime was willful, deliberate and premeditated. If they found her insane
at the time and believed she didn’t intend the results of her act, or
couldn’t distinguish right from wrong, they were to find her not guilty.

In
her closing argument, Oct. 5, Butorac said Dela Rosa was “a completely
different person when she was in a major depression. This was a tragedy
caused by her mental illness. She had a hard time dealing with things
other people could cope with and move on from.”

Besides being
upset about Kathlyn’s unwed pregnancy for religious reasons, said
Butorac, Dela Rosa didn’t have a college degree and blamed it for her
lack of a better job. So she’d hoped her daughter would get a college
education, instead of becoming pregnant. Showing happy photos of Dela
Rosa and Angelyn together to the jury, Butorac said, “She really did
love her granddaughter.”

She also noted the testimony of defense
witness Michael Hendricks, a clinical psychologist who said someone with
a major depressive disorder could develop psychotic thoughts. And, said
Butorac, “That’s what happened at the end. [Dela Rosa] was in a
downward spiral, far removed from reality.”

But prosecutor
Morrogh said there was no evidence Dela Rosa was psychotic or out of
touch with reality. “She was interacting coherently with her family that
night,” he said. “Every time she had a suicidal episode, she said, ‘I’m
fine; I just lost it.’ She said the same thing that night, right after
she murdered that child.”

He said nothing showed she was
hallucinating and didn’t know the consequences of her act, or that she
was throwing something other than her granddaughter off the footbridge.
“Right afterward, she was OK,” said Morrogh. “Does it make any sense for
her to be insane, one minute, and fine, the next?”

Furthermore,
he said Dela Rosa planned to kill the toddler about five minutes before
she and her husband, daughter and granddaughter exited the mall and
stepped outside. “She stopped at the door and let her husband go first
and then she picked up the child,” said Morrogh. “She was intent on
following through and committed the lowest, possible kind of revenge.”

Regarding
malice, he said, “To throw an innocent child off a bridge is cruel. She
was angry at James, her husband and, basically, at the world, and she
decided to take it out on the child. She wasn’t delusional. Dr. Samenow
told you that, when things don’t go her way, she gets rid of the
problem, and in this case, she threw the problem off the bridge.”

Morrogh
said Dela Rosa fully knew the consequences of her actions and that
Angelyn’s death would devastate her family. “That’s the scariest thing.
she knew what she was doing,” he said. “She made her choice, and her
choice was evil. Life is precious, and I can’t think of anything worse
than the killing of a little girl. We ask you to convict [Dela Rosa] of
first-degree murder.”

The jury deliberated six hours on Oct. 6
before reaching its guilty verdict. Angelyn’s parents then shared their
grief with the jury. Her mother lamented the fact that she’d never see
her daughter start school, and her father said no parent should ever
have to bury their child.

Morrogh asked for a life sentence for
Dela Rosa but, after another hour’s deliberation, the jury recommended
she receive 35 years behind bars. Sentencing is set for Jan. 6, 2012.
Afterward, at a press conference outside the courthouse, he said,
“Juries work hard and do a difficult job, and we respect their
decision.”
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=354874&paper=63&cat=104

A Virginia woman was sentenced Friday to 35 years for throwing her
2-year-old granddaughter off a walkway at a busy shopping mall, a murder
the judge called "almost beyond comprehension."

Carmela dela Rosa, 51, offered a tearful, barely audible apology to her family, saying: "I'm very sorry for what I've done."

Circuit Court Judge Bruce White imposed the full sentence recommended by
the jury that convicted her last year. Under Virginia law, White had
the option to reduce the sentence to the mandatory minimum of 20 years,
but could not go above the jury's recommendation.

Dela Rosa, a naturalized US citizen born in the Philippines, killed her
granddaughter Angelyn Ogdoc at the end of a family outing in November
2010 to Tysons Corner Center.

The evidence at trial showed that she deliberately hung back with
Angelyn as the family exited along a nearly 50-foot (15-meter) skywalk
connecting the mall to a multi-level parking garage, so she could scoop
up Angelyn and toss her over the guardrail without any interference from her family.

In a videotaped confession, dela Rosa told police she killed Angelyn
to get back at her son-in-law for getting her daughter pregnant out of
wedlock and ruining her daughter's opportunities for a better life.

Dela Rosa's lawyer, public defender Dawn Butorac, argued unsuccessfully
that dela Rosa's mental illness severe depression rendered her legally
insane and unable to appreciate the consequences of her actions or
understand right from wrong.

Butorac said she will appeal the verdict, and that she believes the jury
did not fully appreciate the depth of dela Rosa's depression, which had
gotten worse in the year before the murder and led her to attempt
suicide on multiple occasions.

Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Morrogh said that while it may be more
comforting to believe that a grandmother must be crazy to kill her
grandchild in such a brutal manner, the evidence showed that dela Rosa
was a hateful, spiteful, jealous woman who harbored animosity not only
against her son-in-law but also at Angelyn herself for stealing
attention away from dela Rosa. She admitted exactly that during her
videotaped confession.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10777255