OOPS!! I had his notes on for today - but he had a hearing yesterday - so I will go ahead & post this now - to keep my notes updated.
Monday, April 29th:
*Arraignment Hearing (@ 9am ET) - FL - Sara Ashley Gama (38) & Ethan Aponte de Gama (2) found dead inside Plantation’s Jacaranda Lakes home in the 1000 block of 97th Avenue to do a welfare check, March 26, 2024. *Jean Carlos Aponte (40) arrested (3/30/24), charged (4/1/24) & indicted (4/19/24) with 2 counts of 1st degree [premeditated] murder with a weapon. Held without Bond.
Case info: On 3/26/24 around noon, police went to the home in the 1000 block of 97th Avenue to do a welfare check. Inside, they found the bodies of 38-year-old Sara Ashley Gama & her 2-year-old son Ethan Aponte. The 2-year-old had four stab wounds to his neck & defensive injuries to his hand, police said in the warrant. His cause of death was sharp force injury & drowning. He was found in the pool in back yard. Gama was stabbed 28 times & had wounds to her face & neck area & her abdomen, police said. She was also discovered with fractures & defensive wounds. Officials said her cause of death was by sharp force injury. Investigators said the father, 40-year-old Jean Carlos Aponte, was also in the home. He was unconscious, possibly as a result of an apparent self-induced drug overdose, according to police. He was taken to an area hospital where he's listed in critical condition. Police administered Narcan after finding Aponte unconscious & transported him to a hospital, where he was stabilized. He had his first court hearing [bond court] on Sunday, where a judge ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation. Once he was medically cleared, Aponte was committed under the Baker Act, a 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold, then booked into jail on 3/30/24.
Judge NBarbara R. Duffy presiding. State attorney Harold F. Pryor. Defense attorney Emma Barrios, public defender.
3/30/24 Docket update: Electronic case. 3/31/24 Update: Bond hearing court held. Broward Circuit Court Judge Elijah Williams found probable cause & will be held without bond & Judge ordered a mental health screening.
4/1/24 Docket update: Order-Mental Health screen. File provisional Order appointing public defender. Order-Defendant's 5th Amendment rights invoked. Warrant image. Arrest paperwork filed. Hearing was held in front of Magistrate. Order-Probable cause found.
4/3/24 Update: In newly released court documents Aponte confessed to killing them while in the hospital. 4/5/24 Docket Update: Demand for disclosure of impeaching information. File Notice/Assistant PD assignment. File defense demand for discovery. 4/12/24 Docket update: Notice of Public Defender fees ($50).
4/19/24 Docket update: File State's Grand Jury Indictment / Grand Jury returned True Bill for 2 counts of murder/premeditated in the first degree with a weapon. File State's Instruction Sheet to jail. No bond capias. 4/18/24: File State's Grand Jury indictment. 4/19/24: Capias image. File State's Grand Jury indictment. File State's instruction sheet. Arraignment hearing on 4/29/24 @ 9am. 4/23/24 Docket update: File provisional Order appointing Public defender by Judge S. McCaul Ricca. Hearing held/Magistrate fins/Order-Probable cause found. Recommit-rearrest paperwork.
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