GUILTY FL - Jacqueline Ortiz, 45, Oviedo, 19 October 2014

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Joshua Ortiz was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-joshua-ortiz-mother-murder-plea-20151125-story.html

Joshua Ortiz, the 21-year-old Oviedo man who confessed to strangling his mother in their kitchen last year, Wednesday pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Had he gone to trial and been convicted as charged, with first-degree murder, he faced a minimum of life in prison.

In court Wednesday he said little but broke into tears when his grandmother, father and half-brother told him that they still love him.

"I know for a fact that what happened that day was not our son. There's nothing I can say to change that, but I feel like the sentence that's been given my son is too harsh," he said, crying.

"If his mother was standing right here, she would say the same thing. I miss her. I miss my son. I just want him to get the help that he needs …Despite what the psychiatrist said, he was not competent."

The defendant told the judge Wednesday that he was competent and understood what he was doing. He said little, except to answer her mandatory questions. Yes, he understood he was giving up his right to a trial. Yes, he had taken his medication today.