It was a short day of testimony, but a difficult one.
Medical Examiner Valerie Rao ran through 20-odd autopsy photos at Donald Davidson's death penalty trial at the Clay County Courthouse, detailing the cause and manner of 35-year-old Roseann Welsh’s death.
Welsh was strangled and stabbed in her Middleburg home in December 2014; her 10-year-old daughter kidnapped and raped. Davidson has pleaded guilty to the charges and waived his right to a jury trial, so all that remains is for Circuit Judge Donald Lester to sentence him to life in prison or death.
That decision won’t come until after the penalty phase of the trial, which got underway Monday.
Rao was the sole witness. As part of her post-retirement contract with the City of Jacksonville, she keeps limited office hours. Judge Lester agreed to take her testimony out of order, to avoid incurring extra costs under her contract. The remainder of Davidson's penalty phase witnesses will testify later this month.
State Attorney Melissa Nelson walked Rao through the gruesome photos, which Rao said pointed to death by "asphyxia due to strangulation, and stab wounds to her neck.”
Only two family members sat through the testimony. Outside, however, several friends and supporters gathered, holding roses and hand-lettered signs.
“The roses are a symbol for Rosie,” family friend Misty Mason told First Coast News. “They were her favorite flower, as well as her name.”
The signs urged tougher laws on sex offenders and predators. One said, “Pedophiles: Life the first time,” a reference to the fact that Donaldson was released from prison, despite a substantial criminal record.
At the time of the 2014 incident, he'd served time for two lewd and lascivious assaults on minors and battery on a pregnant woman. He was released to a program of community control and was wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the attack, which he cut off.
“This is my community, this is my home, and I’m out here to protect my kids,” Mason said. "The police officers get [predators] off the streets, but they’re only off the streets temporarily. They are released right back into our neighborhoods under this 'community control,' which obviously doesn’t work, or he would never have been able to do what he did to Rosie.”
The penalty phase of the trial resumes June 24.