In a Clay County courtroom Monday, nearly a dozen witnesses and multiple videos laid out the graphic details of the killing of North Kansas City police officer Daniel Vasquez in July 2022, as prosecutors started to make their case on the first day of the capital murder trial of Joshua Rocha, the man alleged to have killed the officer.
Dash cam footage and Rocha’s interview with investigators were played for the jury — brought in from St. Charles County, Missouri — as part of evidence by the four-person team representing the state led by Clay County prosecuting attorney Zachary Thompson.
Prosecutors initially charged Rocha, 28, with first-degree murder and armed criminal action following Vasquez’s death, and later filed notice they would seek the death penalty…