Convicted murderer Omar Rodriguez added final insult to fatal injury in court during his sentencing hearing by lashing out at the wife of the man he killed.
Sitting by himself in handcuffs in the jury box while Lisette Rey recounted what the murder of her husband, Jose Rey, had done to her, the killer ripped the mask off his face and launched an obscenity-laced outburst.
He shouted, “A coward was your husband; that’s why I killed him.”
Rodriguez’s temper was so out of control it took seven courtroom cops to drag him out and back to a cell so the hearing could continue. Those present in the courtroom could still hear him screaming from down a hallway.
Pausing to compose herself, Lisette Rey said she prays that her husband’s murderer spends the rest of his life behind bars. “He’s a narcissistic piece of sh**,” she said to the judge.
Lisette Rey has waited a longtime to see justice served to the 74-year-old Rodriguez; the killing of her husband Jose took place in 2015. A jury convicted Rodriguez of the nearly decade-old murder this May. What sparked the killing? According to Rodriguez, he shot and killed Jose Rey because Rey’s dog defecated on the lawn of Rodriguez’s son’s home in Kendall, Florida.
Rodriguez was somehow able to escape detection by police for a long time, and neighbors said he had terrorized them for decades. But Rodriguez has absolutely zero remorse, and has said Jose Rey deserved to die and he was glad that he killed the man.
The sentencing hearing took place August 15 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Judge Milton Hirsch sentenced Rodriquez to life in prison, with a minimum term of 25 years. At his age, this almost certainly means that Rodriguez will die in prison, and widow Lisette Rey will get her wish.
Rodriguez is particularly vicious and sadistic, stating “I’d do it the same way” when referring to his taking of Jose Rey’s life.
Though Florida has the death penalty, the jury decided early on not to impose capital punishment. Jose Rey’s surviving family say they are satisfied with the life sentence handed down.