Jury lets ‘K**l them all’ Times Square rampage driver off the hook in fatal attack
Jun 23, 2022 18:00:10 #
Jury lets ‘K**l them all’ Times Square rampage driver off the hook in fatal attack
The Navy veteran who plowed his car through a pedestrian-packed, midday Times Square in 2017 — telling a traffic cop afterwards, “I wanted to k**l them” — will avoid jail time despite taking the life of an 18-year-old tourist in the rampage that also left 22 others injured.
That was the decision of a Manhattan jury Wednesday that deliberated just six hours before buying the insanity defense of Richard Rojas, 31, finding him “not responsible” due to mental illness.
Defense lawyers had maintained Rojas wasn’t in control of his actions when he unleashed the May 18, 2017 carnage that took the life of young Alyssa Elsman. The decision amounts to a rare buy-in on an insanity defense in New York, with jurors determining that his mental defect superseded clear evidence of guilt.
“I think it’s bulls—t,” the dead Michigan teen’s dad, Thomas Elsman, had told The Post about Rojas’ claims he was too crazy to know what he was doing.
The verdict — of “not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect” on one count of murder and 23 assault charges — means Rojas will likely be committed to a mental health facility, instead of facing a lengthy prison term.
richard rojas
Richard Rojas appears in court during the trial.
Steven Hirsch
Rojas appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court in shackles, wearing orange jail garb with his hair unkempt Wednesday. Family members of Rojas’ were in court, but declined comment to The Post after the decision was read.
Over the course of the trial, which began early last month, prosecutors argued that Rojas had the presence of mind to drive onto the crowded sidewalk and travel three blocks before he crashed.
“The defendant made a decision that day,” assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson said. “He went to the ‘Crossroads of the World,’ a high profile place where everyone knows there’s lots and lots of people.”
After he crashed, Rojas told a traffic agent that he “wanted to k**l them all,” prosecutors said. He admitted to cops that he had been smoking marijuana laced with PCP before the incident.
Attorneys for the accused, who’d been booted from the Navy in 2014, claimed that he was too mentally disturbed to know what he was doing was wrong when he drove into pedestrians. A psychiatrist testified that Rojas was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Defense attorney Enrico DeMarco claimed Rojas had “lost his mind” and jurors were played video that showed the mad motorist after the crash, banging his head on the ground as he was being detained and yelling “What happened?” “Oh my God, what happened?”
Wild-eyed Rojas is seen tearing through the crowd in Times Square just before his arrest.
A wild-eyed Rojas is seen tearing through the crowd in Times Square just before his arrest.
Best Image / BACKGRID
Alyssa’s father blasted Roja’s insanity defense during the trial, telling The Post last week, “they’re trying to make up stories.”
“I think, honestly, they have no defense and they’re trying to make up stories and he was on drugs,” Thomas Elsman said, adding, “No he wasn’t … He knew what he was doing, he knew what he did.”
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His daughter Ava, who was 13 at the time, was also injured by Rojas’ attack and testified in detail about the horrific experience, telling the jury, she was “just trying to lay there [and] not die.”
Elsman added: “You k**led my daughter and my other daughter has scars for the rest of her life, let alone she doesn’t have her sister with her so that’s it, that’s it.”
Defense attorneys said Rojas had become paranoid since he was kicked out of the US military and even prosecutors conceded the driver was hearing voices at the time of the rampage.
Rojas, a Bronx resident, had several run-ins with the law before his rampage including a May 2017 arrest where he put a knife to a notary’s throat and claimed the person stole his ID.
He joined the Navy in 2011 but his service ended in the wake of a 2012 arrest where he allegedly beat up a cab driver he felt overcharged him. He was court-marshaled and spent time in a military prison when the Navy took jurisdiction in that case.
Jurors heard harrowing testimony from several of those injured in the carnage, including Ava, who described the chaos when she was hit.
Alyssa ElsmanAlyssa Elsman was struck and k**led by a car driven by Richard Rojas. Facebook/Alyssa Elsman
“Everything went black but I heard the engine running,” she said. “I could hear people screaming and running but it was all black.”
Her mother, Jyll Elsman, broke down on the stand as she remembered seeing her older daughter Alyssa’s lifeless body on the sidewalk.
“She was just laying there and she wasn’t moving,” Jyll Elsman testified. “Her eyes, I looked into her eyes and I knew she was dead. They were staring off into space. There was no life.”
Another victim’s pelvis had been separated from her spine.
The jury began deliberations on Tuesday and weighed the case for about six hours before returning a verdict.
Judge Daniel Conviser, who oversaw the case, ordered that Rojas be held while he drafts an examination order for psychiatric evaluation. A hearing on the matter is set for Thursday.
A report will be presented to the court on his mental condition, which will determine whether Rojas is committed and in what kind of facility.
He could be found to have a “dangerous mental disorder,” which would mean he’s slapped with a mandatory commitment order to a secure forensic facility, according to state law.
If he’s found mentally ill but without a dangerous mental disorder, he’d be issued a commitment order to a civil psychiatric center.
But if he happens to be found free of disorder or mental illness, he could be discharged or released with a set of court-ordered conditions.
Once committed, the law allows for a patient to possibly be t***sferred or released after applications from officials and further court hearings.
Rojas’ legal team said after the verdict they hoped he will get the “help and care” he needs in the hospital.
Richard Rojas is apprehended by police after the crash.
Best Image / BACKGRID
“The verdict, whether it would have been not guilty or guilty, it’s not going to bring that poor young woman back so,” DeMarco said. “This, I think, is the right, humane verdict.”
District Attorney Alvin Bragg said his office’s “condolences continue to be with the family, friends and loved ones of Alyssa Elsman, who suffered a terrible and tragic loss, and all of the victims of this horrific incident.”
“I thank the prosecutors, detectives, analysts and staff members for their hard work and dedication on this long case,” he said in a statement.
In a message on social media, Jyll Elsman slammed the jury’s verdict.
“Really the only thing I have to say is if this had happened to any of the juror’s children — would they still have said ‘not responsible’?” she wrote.
https://nypost.com/2022/06/22/richard-rojas-found-not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity/
The Navy veteran who plowed his car through a pedestrian-packed, midday Times Square in 2017 — telling a traffic cop afterwards, “I wanted to k**l them” — will avoid jail time despite taking the life of an 18-year-old tourist in the rampage that also left 22 others injured.
That was the decision of a Manhattan jury Wednesday that deliberated just six hours before buying the insanity defense of Richard Rojas, 31, finding him “not responsible” due to mental illness.
Defense lawyers had maintained Rojas wasn’t in control of his actions when he unleashed the May 18, 2017 carnage that took the life of young Alyssa Elsman. The decision amounts to a rare buy-in on an insanity defense in New York, with jurors determining that his mental defect superseded clear evidence of guilt.
“I think it’s bulls—t,” the dead Michigan teen’s dad, Thomas Elsman, had told The Post about Rojas’ claims he was too crazy to know what he was doing.
The verdict — of “not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect” on one count of murder and 23 assault charges — means Rojas will likely be committed to a mental health facility, instead of facing a lengthy prison term.
richard rojas
Richard Rojas appears in court during the trial.
Steven Hirsch
Rojas appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court in shackles, wearing orange jail garb with his hair unkempt Wednesday. Family members of Rojas’ were in court, but declined comment to The Post after the decision was read.
Over the course of the trial, which began early last month, prosecutors argued that Rojas had the presence of mind to drive onto the crowded sidewalk and travel three blocks before he crashed.
“The defendant made a decision that day,” assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson said. “He went to the ‘Crossroads of the World,’ a high profile place where everyone knows there’s lots and lots of people.”
After he crashed, Rojas told a traffic agent that he “wanted to k**l them all,” prosecutors said. He admitted to cops that he had been smoking marijuana laced with PCP before the incident.
Attorneys for the accused, who’d been booted from the Navy in 2014, claimed that he was too mentally disturbed to know what he was doing was wrong when he drove into pedestrians. A psychiatrist testified that Rojas was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Defense attorney Enrico DeMarco claimed Rojas had “lost his mind” and jurors were played video that showed the mad motorist after the crash, banging his head on the ground as he was being detained and yelling “What happened?” “Oh my God, what happened?”
Wild-eyed Rojas is seen tearing through the crowd in Times Square just before his arrest.
A wild-eyed Rojas is seen tearing through the crowd in Times Square just before his arrest.
Best Image / BACKGRID
Alyssa’s father blasted Roja’s insanity defense during the trial, telling The Post last week, “they’re trying to make up stories.”
“I think, honestly, they have no defense and they’re trying to make up stories and he was on drugs,” Thomas Elsman said, adding, “No he wasn’t … He knew what he was doing, he knew what he did.”
What do you think? Post a comment.
His daughter Ava, who was 13 at the time, was also injured by Rojas’ attack and testified in detail about the horrific experience, telling the jury, she was “just trying to lay there [and] not die.”
Elsman added: “You k**led my daughter and my other daughter has scars for the rest of her life, let alone she doesn’t have her sister with her so that’s it, that’s it.”
Defense attorneys said Rojas had become paranoid since he was kicked out of the US military and even prosecutors conceded the driver was hearing voices at the time of the rampage.
Rojas, a Bronx resident, had several run-ins with the law before his rampage including a May 2017 arrest where he put a knife to a notary’s throat and claimed the person stole his ID.
He joined the Navy in 2011 but his service ended in the wake of a 2012 arrest where he allegedly beat up a cab driver he felt overcharged him. He was court-marshaled and spent time in a military prison when the Navy took jurisdiction in that case.
Jurors heard harrowing testimony from several of those injured in the carnage, including Ava, who described the chaos when she was hit.
Alyssa ElsmanAlyssa Elsman was struck and k**led by a car driven by Richard Rojas. Facebook/Alyssa Elsman
“Everything went black but I heard the engine running,” she said. “I could hear people screaming and running but it was all black.”
Her mother, Jyll Elsman, broke down on the stand as she remembered seeing her older daughter Alyssa’s lifeless body on the sidewalk.
“She was just laying there and she wasn’t moving,” Jyll Elsman testified. “Her eyes, I looked into her eyes and I knew she was dead. They were staring off into space. There was no life.”
Another victim’s pelvis had been separated from her spine.
The jury began deliberations on Tuesday and weighed the case for about six hours before returning a verdict.
Judge Daniel Conviser, who oversaw the case, ordered that Rojas be held while he drafts an examination order for psychiatric evaluation. A hearing on the matter is set for Thursday.
A report will be presented to the court on his mental condition, which will determine whether Rojas is committed and in what kind of facility.
He could be found to have a “dangerous mental disorder,” which would mean he’s slapped with a mandatory commitment order to a secure forensic facility, according to state law.
If he’s found mentally ill but without a dangerous mental disorder, he’d be issued a commitment order to a civil psychiatric center.
But if he happens to be found free of disorder or mental illness, he could be discharged or released with a set of court-ordered conditions.
Once committed, the law allows for a patient to possibly be t***sferred or released after applications from officials and further court hearings.
Rojas’ legal team said after the verdict they hoped he will get the “help and care” he needs in the hospital.
Richard Rojas is apprehended by police after the crash.
Best Image / BACKGRID
“The verdict, whether it would have been not guilty or guilty, it’s not going to bring that poor young woman back so,” DeMarco said. “This, I think, is the right, humane verdict.”
District Attorney Alvin Bragg said his office’s “condolences continue to be with the family, friends and loved ones of Alyssa Elsman, who suffered a terrible and tragic loss, and all of the victims of this horrific incident.”
“I thank the prosecutors, detectives, analysts and staff members for their hard work and dedication on this long case,” he said in a statement.
In a message on social media, Jyll Elsman slammed the jury’s verdict.
“Really the only thing I have to say is if this had happened to any of the juror’s children — would they still have said ‘not responsible’?” she wrote.
https://nypost.com/2022/06/22/richard-rojas-found-not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity/
Jun 23, 2022 18:31:26 #
Oldsailor65 wrote:
Jury lets ‘K**l them all’ Times Square rampage dri... (show quote)
The parents ought to smoke some pcp and k**l him! Just sayin!
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