ORLANDO, Fla. – The Fifth District Court of Appeal on Friday overturned the murder conviction of Jason Rodriguez, who was found guilty in a mass shooting at a downtown Orlando business office, and a new trial has been ordered.
Rodriguez was found guilty in December 2013 of first-degree murder in the 2009 shooting death of 26-year-old Otis Beckford. Rodriguez was also found guilty on five counts of attempted murder.Â
The appeals court said the trial court erred in "granting the state's request to instruct the jury on the insanity-hallucinations defense set forth in the Florida Standard Jury Instruction. The appeals court went on to say, "We reverse because this instruction was not applicable in Rodriguez's case."
State Attorney Jeffrey L. Ashton said he disagrees with the court's ruling.
"We feel this is an issue of great public importance in that it may potentially affect hundreds of cases in the state," Ashton said in a statement. "Therefore, we will be requesting Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek further review by the Florida Supreme Court."
It's not known when the new trial will take place.
After the original trial, Judge Belvin Perry sentenced Rodriguez to six consecutive life sentences -- one for each victim.
Prosecutors claimed Rodriguez went into the Gateway Center, where his former employer, Reynolds, Smith and Hills architecture consulting firm, was based, seeking revenge for his firing two years before the shooting. He killed Beckford and injured five others in the shooting, authorities said.
During the trial, Rodriguez's attorneys argued their client was insane and that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
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