In their opening statements to the court on the first day of the trial on June 4, 2013, the prosecution in the case of David Rodriguez stated that the accused had made many strange mistakes following his alleged fatal shooting of Colen Thomas during a robbery at the Thomas home. Rodriguez, aged 42, is charged with robbery, first degree murder and of making false reports to the police following this event that took place in January, 2012.
The evening of the shooting, Rodriguez and two other men went to the home of the victim. Thomas knew one of these men. The three mean attempted to rob the victim and when he resisted, Rodriguez fired the shot that killed him. It was during the aftermath of the shooting that Rodriguez started to fall apart. He saw the news report of the shooting and frantically started to think up a way in which he could get rid of the gun used in the shooting.
He made a false report to the police saying that someone had broken into his home and stolen his gun. According to police records, this call was logged the day after the murder. The next day he told police that he had been at the scene of the crime with the other two men but that it had not been he that fired the shot that killed Colen Thomas. The gun was later discovered in Rodriguez's back yard.
The defense in the case states that there is a decidedly lack of physical evidence to tie Rodriguez to this case. They claim that the police have no fingerprints or DNA evidence to present to the court and that the prosecution is basing their claim on circumstantial evidence. According to Rodriguez’s lawyer, the fatal shooting of the victim occurred in a drug deal in which something went wrong.
Both sides claim that at the end of the trial the truth will come out. The prosecution will try to prove that Rodriguez was the man that pulled the trigger, while the defense will try to prove that Rodriguez may have been at the scene of the shooting but that he is not the shooter.