WINTER PARK, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A judge has granted the release of two teenagers, suspected in the beating death of a 15-year-old Brazilian student who attended Winter Park High School, where he studied in the school's International Baccalaureate program.
Jesse Sutherland and Simeon Hall have entered pleas of not guilty to manslaughter and battery charges against them, related to the Oct. 15 death of Roger Trindade. They went before a judge on Tuesday and asked that their trial dates be delayed.
Attorneys for the two 15-year-old defendants say there are thousands of pages of discovery and several medical experts yet to be interviewed in the case, and they need more time.
Trindade's mother, Adriana Thomé, sat through the hearing and testified that she does not want either of the boys out of jail.
"I'm going to pay more than these boys and their parents, because in 10 years and 20 years, I will still feel this pain," Thomé said.
Sutherland's father testified that his son has been bullied while behind bars and lost a considerable amount of weight. The prosecutor fought back, addressing the senior Sutherland, making sure both he and the judge understand what the teen is accused off.
"So you understand that the night of the incident, he was in fact, bragging to his other friends about knocking him [Trindade] out with one punch?" questioned the prosecutor.
She also made sure the judge knew of another incident in early December, in which Hall has been accused of harassing a homeless person.
"This involved a situation in Winter Park, where Mr. Hall and a bunch of his friends ganged up on what appeared to be a homeless person."
She also made a point of getting both teens' parents to admit they did not know where there children were the night Trindade was killed.
Trindade's mom and big sister walked out of court upset by the judge's ruling to let the boys go home, until their new trial date, February 24. Both boys are required to wear electronic monitoring devices, not have any contact with each other, any witnesses in the case, or any of the victim's family members.
A third suspect, 14-year-old Jagger Gouda, also appeared before the judge. He is charged with tampering with a witness after police say he threatened a middle school student not to talk about the case. His attorney made an arrangement for him to go back before the judge on Thursday, where they will make some sort of plea agreement.