High-profile death penalty case headed back to court

ORLANDO, Fla. - A high-profile death penalty case is heading back to the courtroom after it was already reversed once.

Rafael Zaldivar was dreading the moment he had to relive the murder of his son, Alex, seeing gruesome pictures in court as he prepared for a second death penalty hearing for his son’s killer.

"They [are] going to show him on the floor with his hands behind his back face down in a pool of blood," Zaldivar said.

Convicted killer Bessman Okafor was sentenced to death back in 2015, with the jury 11 to 1 in favor.

But in 2016, the Supreme Court overturned death penalty sentences, saying a jury needed to be unanimous.

It affected cases back to 2002, including Okafor’s.

But last month, the new Florida Supreme Court reversed the ruling after the state appealed a death penalty case in Polk County and won.

Defense Attorney Mark O’Mara isn't involved in Okafor's case, but says, in general, too many innocent men died in Florida.

"Twenty-eight of them have been given the death penalty, but then determined by independent evidence - usually DNA evidence - that they did not commit the crime," O'Mara said.

He says he believes it will end up in Federal Court and doesn’t think the death penalty helps victims' families get closure.

But, Zaldivar says he wants justice after all these years. 

"When he’s executed, that will be my closure because right now he’s riding it out and he’s got hope," Zaldivar said.

Bessman Okafor could learn his fate at a hearing scheduled on Friday afternoon.