Special prosecutors from the DeKalb County and Cobb County district attorneys offices were assigned to the case in February and have re-indicted the McDonough husband and wife just this month. Cobbs Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring said in Superior Court Tuesday that given the amount of work left in their investigation, he expects the state will be ready to proceed to trial in March.
Both parties will come before Ameros bench on Oct. 3 to provide a status update, at which time the prosecution is expected to lay out its case for entering the Rosenbaums private Facebook records into evidence.
Special prosecutors have added 10 charges to the 39 leveled against Jennifer and Joseph Rosenbaum in the death of a 2-year-old foster child in their care, bringing the total criminal charges to 49.
Their case is specially set for trial in March, though defense attorney Corinne Mull told Henry County Judge Brian Amero Tuesday morning that the proceedings would need to stall given the new charges.
Upon talking to the medical examiner, we actually learned that based upon some microscopic examination of some of the bruising in the case, there were certain injuries which we could narrow the scope dates regarding injury, Boring said.
Its based on the same charges, it just specifies out more definite dates for particular injuries in the case, he said of the indictment.
Superior Court Judge Brian Amero conducted a limited review of what he described in one order as voluminous phone, electronic tablet and Facebook records from the Rosenbaums devices, seized during a 2015 search warrant, and has instructed the state to cull those files down. Special prosecutors with the DeKalb County and Cobb County district attorneys offices have until Feb. 1 to hand over in hard copy format all records they intend to present as evidence in trial.
The case will make another stop before Ameros bench on Feb. 6 for a status conference. A trial is expected in mid-March.
Judge Brian Amero ruled this week in favor of a defense motion to exclude evidence extracted from Jennifer and Joseph Rosenbaums cell phones and personal computers after he determined the state held on to those devices too long. The McDonough husband and wifes devices were seized without a warrant following their 2015 arrests but sat in evidence lockup for more than a year before the state began data extraction.
Prosecutors on Thursday filed a notice of intent to appeal the courts decision, which is expected to be considered by the Georgia Supreme Court.
It is not clear if the appeal will have any effect on the trial start date, set for March 12.
Jennifer and Joseph Rosenbaum were set to stand trial this week for murder in the 2015 death of Laila Marie Daniel, a 2-year-old foster child in their care. Instead, attorneys met with a Henry County judge Monday morning to move the case out of the jurisdiction of the Superior Court.
The move is only temporary as the state has filed a notice to appeal Judge Brian Ameros decision to exclude certain evidence from trial to the Georgia Supreme Court. Until the high court makes its ruling, the case will stall in Henry County.
It could be weeks or months before the Henry County proceedings can go forward.