Convicted killer files motions to stop sentencing in death of Orange County woman

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The lawyer for Juan Rosario has filed a motion to try and stop Rosario’s sentencing as part of a last-ditch effort to avoid the death penalty.

A jury last month convicted Rosario of beating Elena Ortega, 83, and then burning her alive inside her home in 2013.

Sentencing for Rosario is supposed to begin Wednesday, but the death penalty decision is like a whole separate trial being held at the Orange County courthouse.

There are still legal problems surrounding Florida's death penalty, as well as the issue of Orange-Osceola County State Attorney Aramis Ayala's anti-death penalty stance.

"The lower courts have no right to decide differently than has the Florida Supreme Court,” said Brad King, who's been assigned to Rosario's murder case along with 22 others in the wake of Ayala's decision.

Prosecutors and the defense argued over the latest debate in death penalty cases. There is a question of whether the circumstances that elevate a murder to capital murder have to be listed in an indictment. Rosario's indictment didn't list them.

Some believe a recent Supreme Court decision said it should have. That is why the defense wanted Rosario’s sentence postponed.

"I am a lowly trial judge, and I do not have the authority to grant your motion,” said Judge Leticia Marques, with the 9th Circuit.

"If the Supreme Court comes back and says he overreached, then death is off the table, because she filed notice not to seek death in this case,” said Roger Weeden, Rosario’s defense attorney.

The Supreme Court would have to intervene before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, when the sentencing phase is scheduled to begin.

Cox Media Group