ORLANDO, Fla. — Santiago Garcia, the father of a man convicted last month of killing an 83-year-old Orange County woman he knew during a 2013 robbery, tried to convince a jury not to vote for the death penalty.
A jury found Juan Rosario guilty of first-degree murder and arson in the beating and fatal burning of Elena Ortega on Sept. 18, 2013.
[ Read: Orange County man could get death penalty in murder of 83-year-old woman ]
The medical examiner testified in April that Rosario burned Ortega alive after he failed to beat her to death in her Turnbull Drive home.
Juan Rosario's father took the witness stand at about 10 a.m.
[ Read: Trial continues for man accused of killing 83-year-old woman, setting home ablaze ]
According to previous testimony, Rosario was raised by an alcoholic mother who was murdered during his adolescence.
Prosecutors tried to undermined Rosario's credibility by citing a previous deposition in which he answered the same questions differently.
Rosario is already serving 18 years for a separate burglary case.
He faces the death penalty.