Chico Picadinho

On March 1st, 2017, he was released by the magistrate Sueli Zeraik de Oliveira Armani, from the 1st Criminal Execution Court of Taubaté. Francisco da Costa Rocha was imprisoned in the House of Custody in Taubaté due to a civil interdiction requested by the Public Prosecution and accepted by the São Paulo's Court on December 14, 1998. Chico had served his sentence in full on November 21, 1998.

In the decision, dated March 1st, 2017, the magistrate Sueli Zeraik de Oliveira Armani highlighted that Chico confirmed his intention to “integrate socially, showing himself to be very secure and determined in this purpose, as well as quite logical in his reasoning developed and coherent in his placements”. According to tests, there is a diagnosis of “nonspecific personality disorder”, but his conduct is classified as “excellent” by the House of Custody's direction.

In May 2017, the court Judge Ricardo Dip, from the Special Chamber of the São Paulo Court of Justice, decided that the prerogative to consider any urgent decision on the case is of the magistrate of the Family Court Jorge Passos Rodrigues' concern. It was Rodrigues who, on the contrary to the decision of the Criminal Execution Court, decided to maintain custody. According to the magistrate, Chico Picadinho, at the time with 75 years old, was serving a sentence for medical purposes, since in the 1970s, in a medical report, he was appointed as a sadistic and psychopathic personality. In the decision, the magistrate affirms that the House of Custody is the "best place to civilly house Francisco, with a record that he is adapted to the daily life, discipline, and timely and effectively receiving psychiatric medication". The decision of Jorge Passos Rodrigues was evaluated by the São Paulo's Court of Justice, where the conflict of jurisdiction was taken, and reaffirmed as a precautionary decision.

In the judgment of the appeal, the São Paulo's Court of Justice, on November 25th, 2015, understood that the interdiction of mental patients with a very serious pathology is not equal to life sentence, as it does not aim to punish for the infractions, but rather deprive from social living those who suffer a very serious mental illness. In this case, the judges understood that there would be sure proof of the dissociative personality of the person being interdicted, as well as a serious history of violence, thus maintaining the hospitalization.

In 1994, Francisco underwent a detailed psychiatric examination, which culminated in the establishment of a mental health incident and his subsequent removal to the House of Custody and Treatment of Taubaté, in order to obtain medical treatment. The Public Prosecution, in turn, ordered for the decree of interdiction in a closed psychiatric establishment.

Ten years after that brutal crime, he was released for good behavior, but Francisco attacked again: in September 1976 he raped and tried to strangle the prostitute Rosemarie Michelucci, in a motel in the East Side of São Paulo, but she defended herself with kicks, bites, punches and screams, managing to get rid of him. Despite being stabbed, she survived. Chico managed to escape.

Two years and five months after obtaining his freedom, Francisco committed the second murder, in 1976. At the trial, his defense claimed that his motive for the crime was not vile, noting that Francisco suffered from mental insanity. At that moment, Francisco who was being charged, after being examined, was considered semi-imputable, as he was a bearer of a complex type of psychopath personality. Even so, the Sentencing Council condemned Francisco – for four to three – to 22 years and 6 months of imprisonment.

Francisco da Costa Rocha committed his first murder in 1966, in Boca do Lixo, downtown São Paulo. At that time he lived a very bohemian life, with a lot of drunkenness and women, and he also used drugs. Over time, he felt the need to have sex on a daily basis, in addition to taking drugs and drinking heavily.

His first murder, followed by dismemberment, was in 1966. His victim was Margareth Suida, an Austrian dancer who had been living in Brazil for a few years. She was also a woman of bohemian life and would occasionally do sexual programs. She usually enjoyed nights and was known to her friends. After drinking a lot and passing by bars and nightclubs in the region, Francisco invited her to have sex. She agreed to go to the apartment on Aurora street, a place that Francisco shared with Caio, his friend, who was a surgeon in the Air Force.

Arrested for the first crime on August 5th, 1966, Francisco was sentenced to 18 years in prison for first-degree murder, plus another 2 years and 6 months for the destruction of the corpse. Subsequently, his sentence was commuted to 14 years and 4 months of imprisonment. In prison, he studied, worked directly with the prison board, and even got married. In 1974, eight years after the first crime, he was released, and the opinion carried out by the Criminal Biotypology Institute excluded the diagnosis of psychopath personality.

Chico Picadinho (born April 27, 1942 in Vila Velha), nickname of Francisco da Costa Rocha, is a Brazilian murderer who was convicted of the murder of two women, in 1966 and 1976, respectively. His case was listed by G1 of São Paulo, in 2014, as "9 murder cases that shocked the country".