ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against two men who are accused of killing two teenagers and then burning their bodies on Cady Way Trail, WFTV learned on Friday.
Also on Friday, nearly 1,000 pages of discovery documents in the double murder case against Jesse Davis and Hector Rodriguez were released.
The newly released documents show evidence that Davis' mother and girlfriend tried to protect him, once investigators started focusing in on him in the execution-style killings of Winter Park High School students Nicolas Presha and Jeremy Stewart.
Investigators found a gun matching the description of Presha's stolen gun and two gun magazines they were told the teenagers brought to Davis' apartment, which was on his mother's property.
Davis' girlfriend, Angela Patterson, lived on his mother's property as well but said she was scared for her life and hid in a hotel.
Investigators said Patterson repeatedly lied to them about having nothing to do with the initial attack, when the teenagers were held at gunpoint, stripped and bound in Davis' apartment. The documents state that she downplayed Davis' role.
According to the documents, Patterson said Davis "can be a sweet, lovely, big, caring thing and that you know, then, he can get mad."
Patterson eventually admitted to holding a gun for the men as they searched the teenagers' pockets.
She said they were belly down on the floor and that Presha was moving. She stated to investigators that Rodriguez shoved cocaine up Stewart's nose after he was beaten on the head.
Patterson would not tell investigators why Davis removed and threw out his couch a day later.
The couch has been found.
Davis' girlfriend told them she's "not an evil person."
But detectives said she did not help the victims, and it took detectives four interviews to get her to admit she helped in the attack.
Authorities said they found what appeared to be blood on her shorts in Davis' apartment.
Prosecutors would not say why they did chose not to seek the death penalty. However, WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said Davis' mental health issues could prolong a death penalty appeal for decades.
Sheaffer also said that is the reason they'd have a difficult time arguing for a death penalty against Rodriguez when the evidence so far shows equal involvement.
The documents also show lists of evidence that was seized and tested for DNA and fingerprints.
WFTV
