Nelson Serrano

In a court hearing in September 2013, Prosecutors admitted to withholding from defense counsel the testimony of the only eyewitness to the murder scene, John Purvis. Purvis stated that he witnessed an Asian young man ("one of those slanty-eyed people") between the ages of 25-30 outside of the main entrance to Erie and a young Latin man in the building looking out of the glass at or around the time investigators estimate the murders occurred. The victims were found in an office about 50 feet from the main entrance, suggesting that others were also involved. He also stated that a Lincoln or Cadillac was parked outside. The new attorneys for Serrano, headed by attorney Roy Black had also uncovered that prosecutors withheld from trial defense attorneys the fact that an extradition process had already begun one week before Serrano's illegal deportation and state attorney Paul Wallace traveled to Ecuador, misled government officials to seek deportation obstructing the federal process of extradition. Paul Wallace, as co-prosecutor during the trial, withheld this information from the court and jury. Nelson's defense has discovered that the Florida prosecutor and police concealed a third weapon used in the crime, a rifle for exclusive military use.

On December 3, 1997, Frank Dosso, Diane Patisso, George Patisso, and George Gonsalves were found shot execution-style at the Erie Manufacturing plant in Bartow. Diane Patisso, a young state prosecutor, had gone to pick up her brother Frank and her husband George at the factory that evening, and prosecutors say she was murdered to prevent her from identifying the killer.

During the summer of 1997, Nelson Serrano opened a separate business checking account with a different bank. He deposited two checks totaling over $200,000 from Erie's sister company Garment Conveyor Systems, as requested by corporate counsel to keep monies safe from Dosso and Gonsalves. There were disagreements about the distribution of assets and accusations by Serrano that there were two sets of books. Serrano instituted a civil suit against his partners. Ultimately, Serrano was removed as president by a vote of the other two partners, and Serrano left the companies. After that, the locks were changed on the building. Shortly before Serrano was ousted as CEO, Phil Dosso and George Gonsalves had fired Serrano’s son, Francisco. Prosecutors said Serrano was angry because Gonsalves and Felice "Phil" Dosso, the third partner in the business, had ousted him and his son from both companies.

During the trial, Serrano's lawyers fought for a mistrial, claiming that Serrano was illegally deported from Ecuador to the United States. Serrano is an Ecuadorian citizen by birth and a naturalized American citizen (in 1971). In 1971, he renounced his Ecuadorian citizenship to obtain his United States citizenship. Serrano was kidnapped in Ecuador by Florida-hired off-duty police officers and then, according to the Ecuadorian government and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (a division of the Organization of American States), illegally deported back to Florida for his murder trial. Documents concerning this issue were presented during the trial and were confirmed by the Ecuadorian Ombudsman through his testimony. Judge Roberts, unaware that an extradition process was started and thwarted by state attorney Wallace, denied the defense motion, finding no cause to dismiss the case.

Nelson Iván Serrano Sáenz (born September 15, 1938) is a former Ecuadorian businessman and a naturalized American citizen (since 1971) who was convicted of murdering Frank Dosso, Diane Patisso, George Patisso, and George Gonsalves in the town of Bartow, Polk County, Florida, on December 3, 1997. The jury pronounced him guilty and recommended the death penalty for Serrano in October 2006 after he was convicted of the murders. On June 26, 2007, Judge Susan Roberts sentenced him to death by lethal injection for each of these crimes. Serrano's conviction is controversial, and his culpability has been disputed.