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Altersberger Penalty Trial: Day 2

Altersberger Family Testimony Talks Of Abuse, Degradation

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

Joshua Lee Altersberger and his defense team react to opening statements at Altersberger's sentencing trial on Monday at the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow.

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Brad Dickerson

Published: March 31, 2009

Updated: 03/31/2009 01:21 pm

BARTOW - The mother of Joshua Lee Altersberger described to jurors a family history of abuse and drugs, as the defense presented testimony in day two of the defendant's penalty trial.

Altersberger pleaded guilty March 13 to shooting and killing Florida Highway Patrol trooper Nicholas Sottile during a Jan. 12, 2007 traffic stop in Highlands County. A jury was selected last week to hear testimony to help them make a sentencing recommendation.

Rosalie Altersberger testified that she became pregnant with Joshua after being raped by a man she called a friend. He was born in November 1987.

Altersberger said she had two other children by two other men, but neither of them lived with the family. In 1995, Joshua started becoming a loner and exhibiting lots of anger following the death of his grandfather, she testified.

"Joshua was my dad's little helper," Rosalie Altersberger said. "He was the only male figure in our life right then."

She told jurors she eventually got a job with the Hardee County Correctional Institute.

During her employment, she started a relationship with an inmate, which was prohibited by the institute. She lost her job, but the man, named Armando Rivera, moved in with her and her three children after being released from prison in 2002.

While Armando lived in the house, Rosalie Altersberger said he started selling cocaine and marijuana out of the couple's bedroom. Drugs and weapons were kept in the house during the time.

Armando even intervened when Rosalie Altersberger learned Joshua was dealing drugs behind her back.

"I told him, 'I have to go talk to him because we can't do this,'" she testified. "Armando said, 'No, let me talk to him.' I said, 'What are you going to do?' He said, 'Well look, if you tell him to stop, he's going to do it behind your back anyway. If I talk to him, I'll teach him how to do it the right way so he won't get caught.'

"Unfortunately, at the time, I thought that sounded like a good idea."

As she testified, Rosalie Altersberger frequently fought back tears as she recounted her family history. She admitted to being nervous.

"My son's life is at stake," she said.

Mitzi Altersberger, Rosalie's half sister, testified that she never saw Joshua in person until her father's 1995 funeral.

She recalled speaking with Rosalie about the manner in which she spoke with Joshua, specifically how Rosalie would swear and scream at her then 7-year-old son.

Sharon Johnson, an employee with the Hardee County Health Department, remembered similar behavior when Rosalie would bring Joshua there around 1993.

"Joshua was always being called 'stupid,' 'jerk,' 'idiot,'" said Johnson, the third witness for the defense.

Mitzi said that when she and her siblings were growing up, their mother often subjected them to similar treatment.

"There was a lot of verbal abuse and a lot of degrading talk," Mitzi said.

Testimony is set to resume this afternoon at 1:15.

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