Former boxer Félix Verdejo Sánchez, convicted of murdering 27-year-old Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz and her unborn child on April 29, 2021 in San Juan, has filed a new motion in his federal appeal. Sentenced in November 2023 to two life terms for the kidnapping and killing of the pregnant woman, Verdejo continues fighting to overturn his conviction.
On August 24, his defense filed a 14-page motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, asking that the case be sent back to the federal court in Puerto Rico for the limited purpose of determining whether backup recordings of the trial exist that could help recover and translate portions of testimony allegedly missing from the official transcript.
Attorney Michael R. Hasse, Verdejo's legal representative, argued the trial transcript is