Fla. Deputies Recount What Suspect Said Following 2009 Slaying of Tampa Officer
TAMPA, Fla. -- In the days after the murder of Tampa police Cpl. Mike Roberts, deputies at the county jail had to spend every minute with his suspected killer, watching him pace his cell, listening to him mumble, writing down the things he said.
They observed Humberto Delgado Jr. for psychiatric reasons. They asked no questions. But the things he volunteered led them to a courtroom Tuesday as witnesses in his death penalty trial.
Fifteen hours after the fatal shot, Delgado asked Deputy Charles Hunt why he wore a black ribbon over his badge. Hunt said it was there for the officer who had just been killed.
"He goes 'Oh.' He goes, 'I knew I was f----- if he was dead,' " Hunt told the jury. "And then he went into telling how the incident had played itself out."
The officer stopped him and went through his stuff, Delgado told Hunt. The officer found a computer, and then guns. Delgado ran. "I think I shot him after he Tased me on my neck," Delgado told another deputy.
Delgado on Tuesday watched his own uncle take the stand with evidence of his guilt. Zoilo Velasquez said he got a call from his nephew minutes after the bullet was fired, saying he wanted to shoot himself.
He said Delgado told him: "He was going down Nebraska Avenue with a shopping cart," the uncle said. "An officer stopped him I guess the officer Tased him and from there, I guess there was a scuffle. Humberto fired a shot."
"Is that what he told you?" the prosecutor asked.
"Yes," Velasquez said.
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