A man accused of killing his girlfriend, her daughter and their dog in Coconut Creek in 2019 was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after accepting a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Jason Dale Roseman, now 49, admitted stabbing his girlfriend, Jan Kirkland, 45 and her daughter, Hannah Bonta, 20, in August 2019 during an argument at the home she was renting in the 4200 block of Northwest 57th Drive.
Bonta, who had been stabbed 38 times, managed to make it to the patio of a neighbor’s house, where she collapsed. Those neighbors called 911.
Back at the house, Roseman fought with Bonta’s boyfriend, Craig Newman, stabbing him multiple times as well. Newman survived. So did Coconut Creek Police Officer Andrew Renna, who responded to the scene only to find Roseman had armed himself with a shotgun. Roseman was accused of firing at Renna’s patrol car, wounding the officer five times.
Police responding to the scene also found Roseman had killed Kirkland’s dog, a pit bull puppy named Harley.
Defense lawyer Gabe Ermine said the plea agreement was in his client’s best interest because the murders were coupled with an attempted murder charge for trying to kill a police officer and an aggravated animal cruelty charge for shooting the dog.
After consulting with family members and the survivors, prosecutors agreed to the change of plea and sentencing.
Prosecutors took the unusual step of allowing Roseman to plead no contest to Kirkland’s murder. Ermine had been prepared to argue that as a crime of passion, it would be more accurate to categorize the crime as a second-degree murder, which does not qualify for the death penalty.
Prosecutors would still have been able to argue that it was a first-degree murder because of the other felonies he committed in the same night.
Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein imposed life sentences for the murders and attempted murders along with five years in prison for the shooting of the dog.
Roseman will remain at the Broward main jail until January, when he is sentenced for a probation violation on an unrelated domestic violence case.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-304-5256. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda