A Miami-Dade man sentenced to life in prison for brutally beating his roommate after meeting her through Craigslist is asking for a new trial.
Convicted felon Byron Mitchell has been serving his life sentence in prison but he was back in court on Tuesday.
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WATCH HEREHis new lawyer claims that Mitchell initially rejected a plea deal without knowing all the evidence against him before going to trial.
Back in 2019, a jury found Mitchell guilty of attempted murder and false imprisonment, stemming from a 2016 incident that left Danielle Jones in a coma for several weeks.
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Jones found Mitchell through a Craigslist ad for a roommate. Mitchell then moved into her Miami apartment, but two weeks later on Valentine’s Day, he was convicted of choking Jones and bashing her head into the floor.
At Tuesday’s hearing, questions resurfaced about Mitchell’s competency to stand trial as well as his lawyer and the judge’s handling of the case.
“All along the issue with my conversations with Mr. Mitchell as to plea were difficult because he believed the case should just be dismissed outright," attorney Khurrum Wahid said.
On Tuesday, the state argued that all the evidence was brought forward before the trial and that Mitchell understood the stakes.
A judge had no ruling on this case Tuesday. It could come down anytime between now and Sept. 15.
