ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Jury selection is set in the trial of a convicted rapist in Orange County who is accused of attacking a woman months after being released from prison.
Bruce Whitehead is accused of raping and mutilating a woman in December 2022 after serving 20 years for a different attack. Jury selection was originally set to begin Monday but was delayed to Tuesday morning.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Whitehead picked up a woman on South Orange Blossom Trail and then drove her to Pine Hills, where he tried to kill her.
A few months ago, investigators filed a witness tampering charge against Whitehead after he allegedly tried to keep the woman in the case from testifying against him by asking another inmate who was set to be released to “take care of” the victim.
Court records collected by News 6 show in 1987, Whitehead was found guilty after taking a woman from her car into the woods at knifepoint, raping her repeatedly and then stabbing her 25 times. She survived the attack.
A judge sentenced Whitehead to 40 years in state prison for attempted murder, armed kidnapping and sexual battery in Duval County, records show. News 6 could not immediately confirm whether Whitehead received any gain time credit to reduce the length of his sentence, which was originally scheduled to end in 2027.
[RELATED: ‘No longer poses a risk:’ Records show ‘brutal rapist’ arrested in Orange County was released in May]
The victim in the Orange County case was helped by bystanders after she was able to escape the attack, deputies said.
News 6 law enforcement analyst Orlando Rolon — former Orlando police chief — stated that the judicial system needs to become more “prudent” going forward to prevent issues like this from repeating.
“Law enforcement can arrest them all day long, but the judicial system has to keep them behind bars when they deserve to stay behind bars,” Rolon said back in December 2022.
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