BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Tennessee death row inmate will get the chance to question potential jurors on Tuesday at his murder trial in Brevard County.
Convicted killer Henry Lee Jones is on trial for allegedly killing Carlos Perez in a Melbourne motel room in 2003.
Jones was led into the courtroom in a blue suit, and it was the first time he has worn plain clothes since he was sentenced to death in Tennessee for the murder of elderly couple, Clarence and Lillian James.
The judge is allowing Jones to represent himself. He asked Jones six times on Tuesday if he wanted to represent himself and even encouraged him not to. Jones will be picking the jurors himself.
Perez, 19, was found naked with his throat slit in a Melbourne motel room in August 2003, just days after the James' were murdered in Tennessee. All of the victims were killed the same way, after they were tied up.
Judge Jack Griesbaum encouraged Jones to let an attorney represent him, but Jones said he fired his public defender because his public defender wanted him to waive his right to a speedy trial.
"He don't understand my circumstances of me sleeping on a concrete floor and I am not ready to waive my rights to continue to sleep on a concrete floor for another eight months," said Jones.
WFTV learned that because Jones is awaiting execution in Tennessee for the murders there, his murder trial in Florida was moved from Titusville to Viera.
Jones was not shackled or handcuffed while in the presence of potential jurors so extra deputies have been brought in to watch him and the courtroom.