Issues surrounding mental health are slated to make up the bulk of the trial for a Fairfax woman who killed her granddaughter last year at Tysons Corner Center.
Carmela Dela Rosa, 50, is presenting an insanity defense in her trial, which began Monday in Fairfax County Circuit Court. She killed her granddaughter, 2-year-old Angelyn Ogdoc, last November by tossing her over a sixth-floor walkway connecting the mall and parking garage. Her attorney says Dela Rosa suffers from major depressive disorder and was legally insane at the time she threw the toddler to her death.
Opening arguments and jury selection took place Monday, and mental health has already been the dominant issue.
When defense attorney Dawn Butorac read prospective jurors her list of about 20 witnesses, at least half of them were medical experts. Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh also intends to call mental-health professionals, though he told jurors prosecutors likely would not call psychiatric experts to testify until their rebuttal case — which will happen near the end of the two-week-long trial, after the prosecution and defense have both presented their initial cases.
Much of the jury selection process focused on mental-health topics. Members of the jury pool were asked extensively about whether they had studied psychology or psychiatry, knew mental-health professionals, had undergone treatment for psychiatric issues, could accept an insanity defense, viewed mental illness as a “cop out” for criminal activity and were familiar with major depressive disorder, among other questions.
Some of the potential jurors who voiced concerns about those issues were ultimately dismissed; others were chosen to hear the case. A man who’s son has schizophrenia and said he would be more sympathetic toward someone with psychiatric issues was dismissed; a woman who’s father was hospitalized a few years ago for being suicidal was selected.
Testimony continues Tuesday. In addition to mental-health professionals, several members of Dela Rosa’s family are slated to testify over the course of the trial.
To prove an insanity defense, Dela Rosa’s attorneys must show that, at the time of Angelyn’s death, Dela Rosa’s mental condition prevented her from understanding the nature and consequences of her actions or left her unable to tell right from wrong, according to Virginia law.
