ORLANDO, Fla. — After detailing what he called years of mistreatment in federal prison, Scott Nelson told the court he wanted the death sentence on Monday afternoon.
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The jury found Nelson guilty of first-degree murder in the 2017 killing of Winter Park nanny and personal assistant Jennifer Fulford.
Their decision to recommend a death sentence must be unanimous, or Nelson will likely be sentenced to life in prison.
Nelson took the stand in the afternoon, describing a his nearly 20 years in federal prisons for robbery. He claimed he was beaten and raped, contracted Hepatitis C, and suffered from brutal conditions, to the point where he wrote a letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders about it.
It was part of his plea to get the jury to give him a more lenient life sentence.
But then, later in the afternoon, he was called for additional questions, a prosecutor asked him if he wanted the death penalty, he said yes.
He also told the court he was a homicidal maniac.
Earlier in the morning, the defense put a psychologist on the stand who testified that Nelson had mental deficits caused by abuse as a child, along with head trauma.
However, in cross-examination the psychologist admitted she came to her conclusions based on info from Nelson himself, and not from other reports.
Then, after a lunch recess, Nelson took the stand.
The jury would need to unanimously recommend the death penalty for the man or he could be sentenced to life in prison.
Before the recess, Nelson had an outburst in the courtroom, leading Judge Keith F. White to warn him if it happened again, he would be escorted out of his own trial.
The jury heard testimony from other witnesses, from doctors and family members to a prison warden, who talked about Nelson's run-ins with other inmates over his two decades in prison.