On Thursday, 13-year-old Derek Rosa appeared in court for a standard status hearing as he faces a first-degree murder charge for confessing to killing his mother with a kitchen knife.
Since his first appearance in front of a judge, Rosa’s maternal grandmother and father have shown up every time.
Today, that support grew when around a dozen mothers and grandmothers sat in the courtroom gallery wearing t-shirts stating, “he is not an adult, he is a boy,” “justice for Derek,” and “we are all Derek.”
Gladimar Lizcano, a supporter, tells NBC6 she showed up because Rosa deserves to be treated as a child.
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Rosa was indicted as an adult and is currently being housed at Metrowest, an adult jail, however he’s separated from other inmates within a juvenile wing. A judge denied a request for the teen to be housed at the Juvenile Detention Center, where he once lived when he was only facing a second degree murder child as a juvenile.
Lizcano says, “for us it’s very important he goes to class. Goes to therapy. He goes to patio. It’s really important for a kid 13-years-old. That’s all that matters. And we are here to fight for his rights.”
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The group is one of thousands of supporters who have signed an online petition on change.org called “Save Derek Rosa.”
The petition says Rosa is innocent and states, “I Plea For Justice For This Beautiful Young Man, Who Looks Innocent Only Because He Is Innocent, Please Help Him, God Bless This Young Man And Justice For Derek.”
Rosa was heard confessing to the murder during a 911 call and a police interview, both made public.
Dayliset Rielo, an attorney representing Rosa says the legal team is not affiliated to these support groups.
“High profile cases always attract a kind of traffic. Some good. Some bad. There is always that concern,” said Rielo.
Rielo says they are currently waiting for state attorneys to hand over some evidence such as an unredacted version of the 911 call Rosa made.
A judge also ordered for Metrowest to provide biweekly updates on Rosa’s activity logs such as school and recreation.
“He is supposed to be checked on every 10 minutes and they are supposed to document the same. There was some failure to do that and we found that and the judge wants to see that MetroWest is complying,” said Rielo.
A tentative trial date was set for February 26.
