ORLANDO, Fla. — The man convicted of killing a man and wounding five others in downtown Orlando in 2009 was found dead Tuesday morning in a North Florida prison cell, the Florida Department of Corrections said.
Jason Rodriguez was convicted of shooting and killing Otis Beckford and wounding five others at Orlando's Gateway Building in 2009.
His conviction was overturned last year by a three-judge Fifth District Court of Appeal panel, which concluded that the jury was told to consider instructions which were applicable only to cases that occurred before June 2000.
The panel ruled that former Judge Belvin Perry, who is now a legal analyst for WFTV, made a mistake when he allowed prosecutors to put information in the jury instructions about Rodriguez’s hallucinations.
Rodriguez eventually pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder.
He was sentenced in December to 30 years behind bars and then incarcerated at Columbia Correctional Institution-Annex.
A medical examiner is working to determine Rodriguez’s cause of death.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been notified and will lead the investigation into the incident.
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