ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the resentencing of a convicted Central Florida killer who had already once been spared from a death sentence.
After closing arguments and jury deliberations had taken place in the resentencing of Bessman Okafor, 38, a joint motion was granted to strike a juror, charge them with indirect contempt of court and order they be held at the Orange County Jail pending further direction, court minutes show.
Okafor was originally sentenced to death in 2015, found guilty in the 2012 murder of Alex Zaldivar, 19, who was slated to testify against Okafor in a home invasion case.
According to a statement from Rafael Zaldivar, Alex Zaldivar’s father, the juror charged with contempt of court told the judge that she had discussed the case with a friend over the weekend, prompting Okafor’s attorneys to “call for a mistrial and rightly.”
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Jury selection in Okafor’s resentencing began Oct. 9.
A jury voted 11-1 to sentence Okafor to death in 2015, but the Florida Supreme Court in 2016 ruled on unanimous jury recommendations for such a sentence. Following this, one of Okafor’s attorneys announced he would attempt to get his client off death row, seeing Okafor’s case overturned in 2017.
In 2020, a new Florida Supreme Court with more conservative justices ruled that a unanimous jury was not required to sentence someone to death, reversing the previous decision.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law in April that allows death sentences to be imposed if eight out of 12 jurors recommend it, the law that Okafor was being resentenced under. Florida prosecutors originally sought to have Okafor’s death penalty reinstated instead of holding a resentencing trial at all.
This is a developing story. Check back with News 6 for updates.
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