MIAMI — The fate of a police officer accused of shooting and wounding a severely autistic man’s caretaker is now in the hands of a Miami jury.
North Miami police officer Jonathan Aledda is accused of attempted manslaughter. He testified this week that he thought Arnaldo Rios Soto had a gun and was holding his caretaker, Charles Kinsey, hostage. It turned out Soto was holding a toy truck. Aledda insisted he never heard another message on police radio that it wasn’t a gun.
The Miami Herald reports the six-person jury got the case Thursday night. Miami-Dade Chief Assistant State Attorney Don Horn told jurors that Aledda’s gunshots were not a misfire but intentional, as he tried to kill Soto but wounded Kinsey.
Defense attorney Douglas Hartman blamed faulty radios and poor supervision.
