13-year-old charged with killing mom in Hialeah makes first courtroom appearance

The Hialeah teen who confessed to brutally stabbing his mother to death last month made his first courtroom appearance during a status hearing on Tuesday.

Derek Rosa appeared before Miami-Dade Judge Richard Hersch as he seeks to be allowed to return to the Juvenile Detention Center.

Rosa is facing a murder charge in the Oct. 12 killing of his mother, 39-year-old Irina Garcia.

Rosa, wearing a brown jumpsuit, appeared calm throughout the hearing, while his grandmother and family members appeared very emotional.

He's being charged as an adult and is currently being held at the Metro West Detention Center.

Hersch decided to allow for an evidentiary hearing on Friday morning, before deciding on whether Rosa will be moved.

"Metro West is housing juveniles as of the 26 of October which happens to be the day Derek was transferred. We do not believe they are equipped right now for him and we think they are doing him a disservice," defense attorney Dayliset Rielo said Tuesday.

He also ruled on an emergency motion to inspect the crime scene, deciding to allow a defense examination on Thursday afternoon with police presence outside the apartment.

Hersch said the crime scene examination would happen in a three-hour block, only including an attorney, forensic examiner and photographer.

"There will be police presence outside the front door. They will not be entering while you are inspecting the apartment," Hersch said.

Rosa’s attorneys last week had asked Hersch for access into the Hialeah apartment where Irina Garcia was found dead.

Rosa's defense attorneys say his life is on the line, but did not give specific details as to why they really want to go inside the apartment, citing attorney-client privilege.

Frank Ramos, Rosa’s stepfather, who was living with the defendant at the time of the murder and who lost his partner, is objecting to the inspection.

Ramos said he is turning in the apartment at the end of the month and that family members, including Rosa’s biological father, have already gone in.

Ramos added that family members have taken the victim's and the defendant's personal items from the apartment.

Hersch questioned why defense attorneys were asking to go into an apartment more than a month after the murder, especially since many people had gone inside.

Hersch said Ramos has the privacy right to decide who enters his apartment and wonders if he even has the authority to approve this emergency request.

State attorneys argued police had already legally inspected and recorded the apartment as protocol.