- March 1, 2025
A judge today ordered a mental competency evaluation for the man who has been charged with murdering a gas station attendant in February in Bunnell.
Judge David Walsh presided over the pre-trial hearing for Joseph Bova at the Flagler County Courthouse. In September, the Palm Coast Observer reported that Fort Lauderdale-based attorney George Reres was planning to ask the state to remove the death penalty as a possible sentence if Bova is convicted of murder. Reres claimed that an evaluation would conclude Bova had “severe mental illness.”
Zuheily Rosado was shot and killed Feb. 21 while she was working at the Mobil gas station in Bunnell. An anonymous tipster led deputies to Bova, and he was eventually arrested in connection with the shooting.
The next pre-trial hearing will be in February, according to State Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Klare Ly.
Eric Niemi: grand theft
Also at the courthouse today, Eric Niemi was scheduled to have a sentencing for a charge of grand theft, but it was continued until February.
The grand theft charge came in 2012, and Niemi has since pleaded no contest to stealing a generator. Niemi was charged with murdering Leonard Lynn in May.
