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Orange County convicted killer dodging death penalty for now

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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — It’s been 11 months since a jury decided an Orange County man should be put to death for burning and killing an 83-year-old woman in her home, but the man has yet to be sentenced.

Juan Rosario appeared in an Orange County courtroom Wednesday morning for what was scheduled to be a so-called Spencer hearing, during which Rosario’s defense would have one final chance to convince Judge Leticia Marques to choose a life in prison sentence in place of death.

Rosario’s Spencer hearing was previously delayed several times due to changes in the convicted killer’s representation and problems collecting mitigating evidence to present to the judge.

Rosario beat 83-year-old Elena Ortega during an attempt to steal money from her home in 2014. Later, assuming he had killed Ortega, Rosario returned to her home burned it down to conceal evidence, investigators said. The fire is what killed Ortega, investigators said.

Jurors recommended Rosario get the death penalty in June of 2017. But his then-second chair lawyer handling mitigation was taken off the case for failing to effectively supervise a number of defense specialists.

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Beginning in March of 2018, Rosario’s lawyers went public with a push to try and prove he’s too mentally handicapped to qualify for the death penalty under Florida law.

"Mr. Rosario may have an intellectual disability. He may have brain damage. We need to explore these avenues,” said Rosario’s former attorney, Roger Weeden.

Rosario is said to have done poorly in school, never learned to read or write and couldn't see how wrong it was to kill Ortega.

Read: Jury returns death sentence for man who killed 83-year-old Orange County woman

"I have no evidence that Mr. Rosario is intellectually disabled, and I would submit that the court has no evidence that Mr. Rosario is intellectually disabled,” said Assistant State Attorney Ryan Williams, with the Fifth Circuit.

“At this point, I don’t have a legal issue under Atkins that’s been raised,” Judge Marques said. “The motion you filed simply doesn’t meet the standard.”

During court Wednesday, Rosario began complaining about his main lawyer, Roger Weeden, who has had the case since 2015.

“I’m entitled to have a counsel that’s actually fighting for me,” Rosario said. “The constant mess-ups, I guess that’s a violation of my constitutional rights.”

Rosario said Weeden failed to investigate fundamental aspects of the murder and that he has no confidence in him during the final and critical process of sentencing.

The judge decided to remove Weeden from the case, which threw the already-delayed schedule out the window pending the appointment of new lead counsel in the case.

A new lawyer will take up the case and a week to get up to speed.

Follow Channel 9's Field Sutton on Twitter for updates on this story.

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