Grandmother: Family ready to heal following trial

Sandy Carro said she will never completely find closure for the death of her 3-month-old granddaughter, Alexa Hall, in November 2007.

"I will never have the privilege of hearing her call me grandma," she said.

But for her family, they feel like the healing process can now begin after a Highlands County jury convicted Edgar Otero, 31, in connection with her death.

The defendant, who was charged with first-degree murder, was convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter, as well as aggravated child abuse.

Otero could receive up to 15 and 30 years, respectively, for the two counts.

Carro said Friday that, while she was satisfied with the verdict, she felt the evidence supported the murder charge.

"(Alexa's) the victim here," she said. "We feel like justice was served. The right person was held responsible for her death."

The defense, however, tried to say someone else was responsible for Alexa's death - her mother, Brandy Hall.

Attorney Jose Torroella, in his closing argument, pointed out that Hall continued lying about what she was up to in the early-morning hours of Nov. 12, 2007, even as her baby lay dying in a Tampa hospital, with severe brain swelling.

Through testimony, it was learned she had left her parents' home at 2:30 a.m., with the baby, to pick up Otero from a party. They then went to the home of a friend of the defendant's to go to sleep around 5 a.m.

While Brandy was inside setting up a mattress, Otero reportedly tended to a fussy Alexa in the back of the mother's car. When Brandy came back out a few minutes later, she found the baby had stopped breathing.

The story concocted was that Otero and Hall had fallen asleep watching a movie and found the baby in her crib the next morning, not breathing.

"That shows a cold, heartless, insensitive, criminal mother," Torroella said to the jury. "When you see your baby near death and you continue to lie, there's got to be a motive."

At one point during his closing, the defense attorney referenced the old "Perry Mason" TV series and how, at the end of each trial, the killer would come out from amongst the courtroom spectators.

"The prosecutor said that doesn't happen. Well, it just happens that in this particular case, it has happened," Torroella said. "The killer of the baby's right there - Brandy Hall, in the courtroom."

Carro said the family assumed something like that might happen, since there was no defense, but called the attorney's comments "outrageous" and "bordering slander."

"For them to go down that road, we were surprised," she said. "He (Otero) killed her baby and then he tried to pin it on her."

Carro said she and the rest of the family are now going to move forward as best they can, now that justice has been served.

"On behalf of Alexa Hall and her family, we would like to thank the state attorney's office for their efforts in seeking justice for her," she said.