TAMPA — A judge this morning has granted a mistrial in the case of a man accused of tossing an infant out a car window on Interstate 275.
Richard A. McTear Jr. was accused of throwing an infant out of a car while driving on I-275 in May 2009.
The ruling comes a day after the trial was disrupted when the baby’s mother appeared to violate a court order in her testimony.
About 20 minutes after she took the witness stand Monday against McTear, Jasmine Bedwell was asked by a prosecutor about the nature of phone calls made to her by McTear on May 4, 2009, a few hours before her baby’s killing.
“He wanted to come over and I told him no,” she said. “He told me he was going to come over and shoot my baby in the face and piss on him and in his face, and he was going to kill both of us.”
The testimony drew an immediate objection from the defense. After a brief bench conference, Fuente sent jurors out of the courtroom so he could hear arguments from attorneys.
Source: TBO
