Pubdate: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL) Copyright: 2006 The Palm Beach Post Contact: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333 Author: Bill Douthat, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer DRUG DEALER CONVICTED OF TWO MURDERS APOLOGIZES IN COURT A drug dealer just found guilty of killing two young men made a surprise apology Wednesday to their mothers, who sat weeping in the courtroom. "I can't bring your sons back, but, oh God, can you forgive me?" Israel Fonseca said, turning to the mothers sitting in the second row. Fonseca cried and choked on his words as he stood handcuffed in the center of the courtroom. Moments earlier, Fonseca sat without showing emotion as the jury delivered a verdict of guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Adrian Waldron, 20, of Palm Springs and Louis Tedesco, 18, of Greenacres. Fonseca will serve two life terms without the chance of parole for the 2003 murders. Prosecutors charged that Fonseca, 25, and Jonathan Morales, 24, lured the men to a dead-end street with promises of a cocaine deal. Waldron and Tedesco died in a barrage of gunfire as they sat in Waldron's car in suburban Boynton Beach. Morales was convicted of the same murder charges in January. Prosecutor Angela Miller said Fonseca's post-conviction speech sounded like a confession. "He was speaking as a guilty man," Miller said after the sentencing. "We are grateful for the jury's verdict because our community deserves to be kept safe from people like Israel Fonseca," Miller said. Court officials said the short speech by Fonseca is unusual. Circuit Judge Charles Burton advised him to consult with his attorney before making a statement. One court worker said he noticed some jurors were in tears. The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for two hours and 15 minutes before returning the verdict. Karen Tedesco, who sat through the trial holding a framed photograph of her son, closed her eyes when the jury's verdict was announced. She looked upward and mouthed the words "Oh, thank you, God." Several of Fonseca's family and friends sitting on the back bench in the courtroom left in tears. One said Fonseca was innocent, but Morales' conviction had sealed his fate. Fonseca, of Lantana, didn't testify during the three-day trial. He said in his post-trial apology that he "had no control" over the murders. Karen Tedesco saw the apology as a confession. "He killed my son," she said. "I think he wanted to get it off his chest." Prosecutors portrayed Fonseca as a street-tough drug dealer who wore a bulletproof vest and was making more than $30,000 a month selling drugs in the area. Miller said in closing arguments that Fonseca was humiliated a few hours before the murders when Waldron knocked him to the ground outside a bar as the two were play-fighting. The two continued to drink together before leaving in search of a cocaine buy. The defense contended Morales and another man named "Junior" killed Waldron and Tedesco and that Fonseca was unaware of the murder plans. Although Fonseca told police he stayed in his own car during the shootout, his former girlfriend testified that Fonseca had stepped out of the car before the shooting began. Two guns were firing at the same time when Waldron and Tedesco were slain in the front seat, testified Stuart Graham, an assistant Palm Beach County medical examiner. The girlfriend, Marina Natalucci, said Morales was carrying two guns and had Tedesco's silver neck chain with him when he stepped back into Fonseca's car. The neck chain has never been recovered, Karen Tedesco said. Natalucci said Fonseca never told her why they were meeting with the two young men on the darkened road. "I was 18," she said. "I never asked questions." Although Natalucci's testimony left many questions unanswered, it placed both Fonseca and Morales at the murder scene. - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPF Florida)