MIAMI — Two of South Florida’s worst tragedies will be the focus of major trials this coming year — a horrific mass shooting at a Parkland high school and the shocking deadly collapse of a beachside condominium in Surfside.
With the threat of COVID-19 having waned significantly, Florida courts are open and running again and 2022 is expected to bring a string of high-profile cases to state and federal courtrooms. Beyond some long delayed trials, there are other significant events expected, including federal appointments by the Biden administration. The dates of those are not yet set and, like many trials, always subject to change.
▪ Jan. 4. Parkland shooter— Jury selection is slated to begin for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz, who has already pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder for the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Dougas High in Parkland. The jury will decide whether Cruz should be executed for committing the deadliest school shooting in Florida history.
▪ Jan. 19. Priest rape — Father Jean Philippe, the Catholic priest convicted of raping a parishioner at the rectory of Homestead’s Sacred Heart church, will learn his fate. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
▪ January/February. Murder for hire? — Trial begins for Jose Perez-Sanchez, who is accused of murdering 25-year-old Richard Vasallo in Cutler Bay in July 2012. He is accused of murdering Vasallo at the behest of Vasallo’s ex-girlfriend, Dianelis De La Caridad-Fonseca, and in exchange for a marriage for residency papers.
▪ Early 2022. Federal nominations— President Joe Biden is expected to nominate a new U.S. attorney and two federal judges in South Florida in 2022. All three of these nominations would require U.S. Senate confirmation.
In 2021, a pair of House and Senate nominating commissions recommended the following candidates for the top federal law enforcement official in South Florida: Jacqueline Arango, Markenzy Lapointe, Andres Rivero and Michael Hantman, who are in private practice. All but Hantman, who once worked in the Florida attorney general’s office, are former federal prosecutors in Miami. The two commissions also recommended these candidates for the two federal judge vacancies: Detra Shaw-Wilder, a partner with a prominent Miami law firm; David Leibowitz, a former federal prosecutor and general counsel for his uncle Norman Braman’s auto empire; Federal Public Defender Michael Caruso; U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Maynard; Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Miguel de la O; Palm Beach Circuit Judge Samantha Feuer; and Miami-Dade County Judge Ayana Harris.
▪ March. Soap star road rage — Mexican actor Pablo Lyle is set to stand trial for the punch that killed a motorist in Miami in March 2019. He’s charged with manslaughter. During a road-rage confrontation, he punched Juan Ricardo Hernandez, 63, who hit his head on the pavement and died.
▪ March 14. Police predator? — Trial is expected to start for former Hialeah police Sgt. Jesús Menocal Jr., who is accused of sexually assaulting a half-dozen women and girls while on duty. He is charged with using his authority to violate the civil rights of his alleged victims. His arrest in 2019 proved a major scandal for the Hialeah Police Department.
▪ Summer. Surfside collapse —A class-action trial that will decide who is liable for the June 2021 collapse of a Surfside condo tower that killed 98 people will include nine defendants, including the condo board at 136-unit Champlain Towers South.
Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman is moving the class case on a fast track because he wants to resolve the liability issue as quickly as possible so that victims can be compensated for their losses. Before trial, Hanzman also hopes to distribute some compensation funds next spring from $50 million in pledged insurance coverage and at least $120 million from the initial development bid for the nearly two-acre condo property overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
▪ Sept. 6. Coworker kidnapping — Trial is tentatively scheduled for Jose Rojas, who is accused of kidnapping his boss and another co-worker, then torturing and beating them to death inside a Coral Gables business. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
▪ Late 2022. Money laundering case— Colombian businessman Alex Saab, who has close ties to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, is expected to go to trial on a money-laundering conspiracy charge stemming from paying bribes to government officials in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in low-income housing deals in Venezuela. Saab is accused of siphoning some of the allegedly tainted profits to banks in South Florida.
