- April 23, 2024
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Joseph Bova, the man charged with first-degree murder in the execution-style February 2013 shooting of Mobil gas station clerk Zuheili Rosado, remains incompetent to stand trial, Circuit Court Judge Terence Perkins found during a status hearing on Nov. 1.
Bova is being held at a psychiatric hospital, the Northeast Florida State Hospital, in Macclenny, and experts there believe he is incompetent to proceed. The prosecution did not contest their findings.
Bova was not in court for the hearing. The last time he was in court — during a hearing in April 2017 — he threatened the life of Judge Dennis Craig, who at that time was handling the case. A prosecutor told Craig at the hearing that Bova had not been taking his psychotropic medication.
Bova had initially been found incompetent to stand trial; then, at one point in 2015, was found by Judge David Walsh to be competent to stand trial. He was found incompetent again by Craig at the April 2017 hearing.
Although he has pleaded not guilty in the case, Bova has since August 2017 has written a series of conflicting, handwritten statements to the court concerning his guilt or innocence.
In an August 2017 petition for a write of habeas corpus, he wrote that he had been "framed for a crime and held hostage," said he'd previously been found competent at that facility, and said he was being confined "illegally."
Then, in November 2017, he wrote a one-sentence statement to the judge: "I would like to plead guilty." He underlined the word "guilty."
In December, he wrote to the judge again, writing, "I made a mistake in my last letter I would like to plead not guilty." The words "not guilty" were underlined.
Soon after, he reversed himself, writing, "I would like to plead guilty to this crime and 2 other crimes please make sure they transfer me from Gainesville back to Bunnell, Florida." Underneath his name, he added, "P.S. I apologize that I was rude to you."
Bova's next status hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. April 8, 2019.
