Citing his fragile mental state and intense media coverage, an attorney for the man charged with murder in a 2009 downtown Orlando shooting spree wants his trial moved to Gainesville, where he’s living in a mental health facility.
Attorneys have been grappling with how best to try Jason Rodriguez since Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry in July ruled him competent to proceed with his case.
Rodriguez had been ruled incompetent several times — due to testimony that he was suffering hallucinations and delusions centered on an imaginary voice called “sharp tooth” — and remains “fragile,” Perry said in a July 26 hearing.
Perry laid out several options, including transporting Rodriguez to Orlando from Gainesville daily, housing him in a facility in Orlando or moving the entire trial to Alachua County.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
