Ocala courthouse: Two trials, two guilty verdicts

Three years ago, a jury found Steven Caro guilty of attempted second-degree murder and he was sentenced to a 30-year prison term. A little more than a year later, an appeals court set aside Caro's verdict and ordered a new trial.

On Thursday, another jury found Caro guilty again.

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Caro was charged in the May 2017 shooting of Jarel Rhem, a former U.S. Coast Guard service member. He was shot outside Tavern on the Square, 11 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala.

When the verdict was announced, Caro was seated between his lawyers, Junior Barrett and Jameson Karnes of the Office of the Regional Counsel. Caro loosened the buttons on his black shirt, lifted it up to cover his face, and put his head on the desk.

Several seconds went by, and Caro stood and was handcuffed by a bailiff. His bond was revoked by Circuit Judge Robert Hodges, who presided over the two-day trial, which began Wednesday.

The 35-year-old Summerfield man thanked the judge and mumbled other words. As he was being led to the back, Caro told family members who had attended the trial that he loved them.

His sentencing date has not been set.

Lawyers made their pitch to jurors

In his closing argument, Barrett said Rhem never saw a gun and didn't feel anything touch him. Barrett said the 911 caller who followed Caro after the shooting never saw Caro fire a shot, didn't see the firearm, and did not witness Caro ditching a firearm.

Barrett said Rhem was unable to identify Caro as the shooter from a photo lineup. Law enforcement officials never found the gun.

Assistant State Attorney Cindy Harper said Caro bumped into Rhem or the dance floor. The two were separated. The two men later saw each other outside and, while standing close to each other, Caro shot Rhem.

"He's the person who shot the gun," Harper said.

While law enforcement had limited evidence, detectives were able to find a witness who identified Caro as the one who bumped into the victim.

Detectives went to Caro's residence and interviewed him about the incident. Though he didn't say he shot Rhem, he did tell detectives that he was at the club and had argued with a guy.

He met that same guy outside the club, where they exchanged words. Caro said he pulled out a knife and then heard a loud pop, according to his arrest report.

During their deliberations, which began at 11:40 a.m., jurors asked to hear a recording of Caro's interview with detectives and to see a video of the crime scene that was introduced at trial. Jurors returned to the back, but later told a bailiff they had made up their minds.

The original conviction was overturned because the state "presented evidence of an unscientific experiment conducted by a police detective that was intended to prove that the victim was shot at close range, which would have been consistent with Appellant's (Caro's) proximity to the victim at the time of the shooting," according to a three-judge panel from the 5th District Court of Appeal.

However, the panel wrote, "the State failed to meet its burden of showing that the conditions of the demonstration were substantially similar to the actual event to make the demonstration admissible."

State v. Jason Lee Parker

On Wednesday, a six-member jury found Jason Lee Parker guilty of child abuse.

Announcing they had reached a decision, jurors sent a note to Circuit Judge Pete Brigham wanting to know if anger management could be part of Parker's sentence. They deliberated for roughly an hour and a half.

Parker was sentenced to a five-year prison term. He cannot have any contact with the victim or his family. The 37-year-old Ocala man has been locked up since Oct. 8, 2018, awaiting resolution of this case. The judge rejected the jury recommendation as to anger management.

Assistant State Attorney Jonathan Olson told the court that several years ago, Parker was investigated for a co-sleeping death of another child in Michigan. Parker was never charged, as the death was ruled an accident, Olson said.

Three jurors who stayed in the courtroom to hear the judge's ruling declined comment to a Star-Banner reporter.

The facts of the case

Ocala police detectives arrested Parker in 2018 when a 4-month-old child was taken to the hospital by his mother. At the hospital, doctors determined the baby's leg was broken. The boy was examined further and results revealed he had broken ribs that were healing.

At the two-day trial, which began Tuesday, Olson told jurors that medical officials who examined the child said there were signs of abuse. Olson said testimony presented in court showed Parker has anger issues.

The prosecutor said several explanations given by Parker for the injuries were discounted by doctors.

"He needed to explain it away," Olson told the four women and two men of the jury.

Defense lawyer Richard Philip Buzan argued that the doctors who testified did not see the child. Instead, he said, they relied on reports and their training before making a decision.

Buzan said the doctors would only speculate there was child abuse, and those investigating the case assumed that since Parker was the child's primary caregiver, then he must have injured the child.

Buzan said his client "voluntarily went to the police department," and was "cooperative" during the investigation.

Contact Austin L. Miller at 867-4118, austin.miller@starbanner.com or @almillerosb

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Ocala, Florida courts: Two men found guilty in separate trials