Jury finds man guilty of raping, mutilating woman in Pine Hills

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County jury found a man guilty of raping and mutilating a woman in Orange County.

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Jurors found Bruce Whitehead guilty on the following six counts: sexual battery, attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated battery and aggravated assault.

Attorneys for the state rehashed the victim’s testimony earlier Wednesday, saying that she narrowly escaped after Whitehead tired to stab her three times with a knife in December 2022.

Read: ‘I cannot die tonight’: Victim of gruesome Pine Hills assault testifies against accused rapist

When jurors were out of the room and before they had reached their verdict, Whitehead was emotional, and told the judge he wasn’t happy with his representation.

He told the judge he believed his attorney should have explored an insanity defense and that expert witnesses should have been called to explain his “state of mind.”

His defense attorney rebutted and said they decided long ago that this was not an appropriate strategy.

Read: Registered sex offender accused of raping, trying to kill Orange County woman appears in court

The judge agreed it was too late now, since both sides had rested their case. However, he allowed Whitehead to comment on the record.

“There was never a question I was with this person. DNA proves that alone. But the state of mind?” said Whitehead, “To sit here and state I was in a rational state of mind. No.”

He also continued to discuss on the record concerns for his safety at the jail.

At one point the judge told Whitehead, " To clarify, the death penalty is not present in this case.”

Whitehead responded saying, " I wish it was. Go ahead and hit the switch man.”

Victim of gruesome Pine Hills assault testifies against accused rapist Jury deliberations are expected to begin Wednesday in the case of an accused rapist. (WFTV)

Body camera video that was played in court showed how a five-day manhunt to find Whitehead ended. But the investigative work of detectives was far from over.

Prosecutors pointed to location data, surveillance video and strong DNA evidence collected after the crime.

Read: Victim of gruesome Pine Hills assault to take the stand against accused rapist

Channel 9 showed you the start of the trial against accused Whitehead and the intense moment when Whitehead’s close friend testified against him.

At the time, he was a registered sex offender and had already served time for a similar crime that happened in 1986 in Duval County.

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The victim of that attack took the stand earlier in the trial.

Watch Channel 9 Eyewitness News for the latest updates.

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