A man killed his 27-year-old wife in what he termed self-defense and went ahead to post the picture of her corpse on Facebook social platform.
33-year-old Derek Medina, said he murdered his wife, Jennifer Alfonso in August 2013 because he was scared of her lifestyle laden with drug abuse, violent tendencies and even Satan worship.
Medina’s defense attorney, Saam Zangeneh on Monday, November 2, 2015 said that he will seek to introduce evidence that his late wife was an avid user of synthetic drugs such as Ecstasy, adding that she battered her husband and was deeply involved in the occult and Satan worship, Emirates reported.
The defendant’s jury selection started on Tuesday, November 3, 2015 and he faces a life imprisonment if convicted of the murder of his wife at their South Miami home.
The case gained national attention because Medina posted the photo of Alfonso’s body on Facebook, admitting in the post that he killed her and would likely go to prison.
Medina’s attorney told the Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Yvonne Colodny that Alfonso started the fight, which escalated to the point where she came after Medina with a knife which prompted him to shoot her in self-defense.
“She initiated a confrontation. My client tried to calm her down,” Zangeneh said.
Prosecutor Scott Dunn urged Colodny to limit defense use of the allegations involving Alfonso, reminding the judge that she is the victim and is not on trial.
“It is not open season on a victim just because a defendant is claiming self-defense,” Dunn said.
An evidence against the defendant shows that he had years earlier told a friend he would kill Alfonso if she ever tried to leave him, which her friends said was her plan.
Colodny ruled that the evidence involving the Alfonso allegations could only be used if the proper legal foundation is laid for the jury. She also imposed some limits on the prosecution’s use of the Medina boxing evidence.
She said: “I’m not going to permit fishing expeditions. We’re going to keep it to the facts of the case.”
Check out the photo of Alfonso’s corpse and other photos of the couple before the woman’s death. (Click on any image to enlarge).
