Rafael Otano, a former Hialeah police officer, was awaiting sentencing after a jury in Miami-Dade County found him guilty of armed kidnapping on Tuesday night.
From the start, the prosecution’s goal seemed daunting: Prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a Hialeah police officer kidnapped a homeless man from a strip mall, drove him miles away to a remote wooded area, beat him bloody and unconscious and left him to fend for himself.
With the defense and the prosecution resting, it was clear on Monday afternoon that a jury will soon start deliberating in the case of a former Hialeah officer accused of police brutality.