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.