The jury deciding the fate of a woman on trial for tossing her 2-year-old granddaughter to her death has sent a second note to the judge.
The jury considering the case of Carmela Dela Rosa on Thursday afternoon asked Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Bruce White to clarify the phrase “under the control of reason.”
The phrase was mentioned in jury instructions to describe malice, which is an element of murder and is defined as the “state of mind which results in the intentional doing of a wrongful act to another without legal excuse or justification, at a time when the mind of the actor is under the control of reason.”
Dela Rosa is accused of throwing Angelyn Ogdoc from a sixth-floor pedestrian bridge at Tysons Corner Center last November. She presented an insanity defense.
Bruce told the jury in a note that they had all the instructions that govern the case and he could not provide further information.
Both Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrogh and defense lawyer Dawn Butorac said after hearing the note that they believed the jury was confused.
But Bruce noted that such notes are often sent at the request of one juror.
“I don’t read anything into this one way or another,” he said.
The note was the second from the jury on Thursday, the first full day of deliberations.
