Gallery: Adam Matos guilty in brutal Hudson quadruple-murder
A day after Adam Matos described in grisly detail how he killed four people in Hudson in 2014, a jury responded Thursday by taking less than two hours to find him guilty.
Adam Matos returns to court where only moments later he was found guilty of all four counts of first degree murder after jury deliberations. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times
By
Douglas R. Clifford, Tampa Bay Times
Published Nov. 17, 2017|Updated Nov. 17, 2017
Matos, 32, sat stonefaced as the verdicts were read in a tense courtroom under the watch of the victims’ family members. From the gallery came the sobs of women.
“The worst part is over,” Leonard’s mother, Paula Rystrom, told those around her, afterward.
The defendant had stunned courtroom spectators by confessing from the witness stand Wednesday, and he kept talking Thursday outside the earshot of deliberating jurors to create an additional record, apparently for appellate purposes.
“It was the worst day of my life, a horrible experience, like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from,” he said, responding to questions from one of his attorneys, Dillon Vizcarra.
Adam Matos talks with defense attorney Dillon Vizcarra moments after arriving in court for instructions and deliberations. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times
Defense attorney Willie Pura, left, and prosecutor Chris LaBruzzo talk moments before Adam Matos is found guilty of all four counts of first degree murder after jury deliberations . DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times
Quadruple murder suspect Adam Matos, takes the stand to proffer testimony into the record moments after the jury was dismissed for deliberations. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times
Courtroom Clerk Kelli Boutin delivers a shovel, packaged as evidence - one of 642 pieces of evidence in the Matos case, to the jury room as deliberations began in the quadruple murder trial . DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times
Family of the murder victims of Adam Matos react as verdicts are read, guilty of all four counts of first degree murder. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times
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/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/O5DUULH3YVHBNFAEOEUU5UCNAY.JPG "Adam Matos talks with defense attorney Dillon Vizcarra moments after arriving in court for instructions and deliberations. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/DRTSTTVBJNGPXP4V4YEJPM6HJQ.JPG "Defense attorney Willie Pura, left, and prosecutor Chris LaBruzzo talk moments before Adam Matos is found guilty of all four counts of first degree murder after jury deliberations . DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/XV2XVSV56ZC4TFSH7ZKSLWLXAA.JPG "Quadruple murder suspect Adam Matos, takes the stand to proffer testimony into the record moments after the jury was dismissed for deliberations. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/VKFZEXUJXFBPDEAZUJVRDD2Y4M.JPG "Courtroom Clerk Kelli Boutin delivers a shovel, packaged as evidence - one of 642 pieces of evidence in the Matos case, to the jury room as deliberations began in the quadruple murder trial . DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times")
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