According to the Miami Herald, a jury took just 15 minutes to convict Jose Caballero, 40, and Elissa Alvarez, 20, on two counts of lewd and lascivious behaviour.
The evidence was damning: Their act was caught on video which was shown in the courtroom during the trial which lasted little more than a day.
Assistant State Attorney Anthony Dafonseca told the Miami Herald that he would be pursuing a harsh sentence for Caballero as he has been previously convicted for cocaine trafficking. Alvarez has no police record.
The couple had rejected a plea-bargain, Dafonseca said, “Despite the video, despite all the witnesses.”
Witnesses did not state they had seen genitalia or penetration and the video was also unclear. The suggestion the two were engaged in a sex act was therefore “speculation”, the defence argued.
Defence lawyers argued Alvarez had in fact been “dancing” on Caballero to wake him up.
Dafonesca rejected the excuse: “It’s insulting your intelligence to say that she was dancing.”
The State Attorney said it was important to send a message that sex would not be tolerated on public beaches.
“We’re dealing with basically tourists, that came from Brandon and Riverview and West Virginia, and they’re here on the beaches of Manatee County, our public beaches,” he said. “
So you want to make sure that this isn’t something that just goes by the wayside. And that it is well known to the community, what will be tolerated and what won’t be.”
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