DELAND — A jury is expected to begin hearing testimony Aug. 18 in the trial of a woman charged in an altercation involving her husband and a Volusia Sheriff’s Office school resource deputy at Deltona Middle School.
Dagmarie Aponte, 46, and her husband, Jorge Rivera, 47, of Deltona, were arrested Nov. 19, 2024, after a confrontation with Volusia Sheriff’s Office School Resource Deputy Julia Curtin escalated at the school.
Aponte and Rivera were upset that Curtin arrested and handcuffed their 11-year-old son after he was accused of pushing a girl. They were also upset because they said their son was being bullied.
But the situation escalated first verbally and then physically with the deputy drawing her Taser and Rivera punching Curtin and taking the Taser from her. Curtin then drew her gun and arrested Rivera. Aponte was also arrested.
Jury selection began Aug. 17 in preparation for opening statements and the start of testimony Aug. 18.
Circuit Judge A. Kathleen McNeilly is presiding over the case at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand.
Aponte had pleaded no-contest last year to charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence, both third-degree felonies punishable by up to five years in prison. She also pleaded no-contest to disrupting a school function, a second-degree misdemeanor. Prosecutors had agreed not to seek a jail sentence for her.
Woman charged in clash with deputy at Deltona Middle withdraws plea
On March 20, McNeilly granted a motion by Aponte’s defense attorney, Lisa Figueroa, allowing Aponte to withdraw her plea. McNeilly, wrote in her ruling that Aponte’s attorney had established “good cause” which, under Florida law, makes it mandatory to grant a motion to withdraw a plea.
McNeilly cited state law which holds that “affirmative misadvice,” in particular about the consequences of sentencing, had been held to be “good cause.”
Aponte testified Friday, Feb. 13, that she was trying to de-escalate the situation between her husband and the deputy and was not trying to be violent toward the deputy.
Husband sentenced to jail in confrontation with deputy at Deltona Middle School
In November, McNeilly sentenced Rivera to 45 days in jail. McNeilly also withheld adjudication, meaning Rivera will not have a felony conviction on his record. Prosecutors had asked for 10 years in prison.
The State Department of Corrections recommended a mix of a supervisory sentence, such as probation, and referring Rivera to Veterans Court. But Rivera, who is a combat veteran, didn’t qualify for Veteran’s Court because one of the charges was punishable by life.
McNeilly ruled that there was enough evidence for a downward departure, which legally allowed her to impose a lighter sentence, such as probation. McNeilly went through those factors legally allowing for a downward departure. She said Curtin was “an initiator, a willing participant, an aggressor or provoker of the incident.”
The State Attorney’s Office has appealed McNeilly’s ruling regarding Rivera to the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Woman on trial in clash with Volusia deputy at Deltona Middle School
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
