50-year-old Richard Rotter was expected to plead guilty to three charges, including aggravated first-degree murder for Rocha’s killing, but instead he pleaded not guilty and he asked the judge to order him to be evaluated for mental competency and his physical health.
Relatives, who did not want to be specifically identified, say Rotter suffers from stage 4 liver cirrhosis, which they say has led to seizures and other brain issues. “From what we can gather, he is under duress,” the relatives say, “and thought about pleading guilty just to get out of the jail because he feels he’s being tortured.” The relatives say Rotter has been kept in a room he says has feces on the wall; that he wasn’t given a blanket for a couple of weeks after he was booked into jail, so he was left cold; and that his food has been tampered with. They also say when they saw him, he had two black eyes but didn’t want to say how he got them because he was in fear he’d get worse.
The relatives say they spoke with an attorney, who told them something is not right because they say Rotter’s public defenders should never even have considered allowing him to plead guilty this quickly or without some sort of an evaluation.
You can see the entire interview with Rotter’s family in the video below.
The judge set dates for two hearings in May, with the trial date in late May expected to be delayed.