Is Florida death row inmate Steven Lorenzo competent to speed up execution?

Convicted killer fights to die

Steven Lorenzo, a convicted killer who asked for the death penalty could be one step closer to getting it. FOX 13’s Matthew McClellan reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa judge will decide Thursday whether death row inmate Steven Lorenzo is mentally competent to fire his appeals lawyers and give up all remaining legal challenges.

The backstory:

Death row inmate Steven Lorenzo, who was convicted in 2022 for the 2003 torture and killings of Michael Wachholtz and Jason Galehouse, returns to court on Thursday for a rare evidentiary hearing on whether he is legally competent to give up his remaining appeals.

Steven Lorenzo confessed to killing Jason Galehouse and Michael Waccholtz.

Lorenzo has been acting as his own attorney and has filed a series of handwritten motions from death row. In those filings, including a letter dated December 1 and filed in court on December 9, he accuses the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel of working against his wishes and asks the court to remove the team assigned to represent him during post-conviction proceedings.

PREVIOUS: Steven Lorenzo sentenced to death for murders of Jason Galehouse and Michael Waccholtz in 2003

Lorenzo says he wants to end all appeals, waive further legal review and allow the state to proceed toward execution.

That puts the court in an unusual position: Florida law requires death-sentenced inmates to have representation during post-conviction litigation, and a judge must determine competency before allowing any inmate to dismiss counsel or abandon appeals.

What’s happening on Thursday

Judge Michelle Sisco will hold a 1:30 p.m. evidentiary hearing to examine Lorenzo’s mental competency. During earlier hearings, she emphasized that the court must proceed carefully, telling him, "Due to the serious nature of your situation, there is a process and we have to follow the process. If I don’t follow the process, I’m not doing you any favors because I would just be reversed."

PREVIOUS: Steven Lorenzo sentencing: Men who escaped confessed killer recall feeling drugged, being zip-tied

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Lorenzo’s death sentence on June 19, 2025, according to state filings. With the conviction and sentence upheld, Thursday’s hearing focuses solely on whether he understands the consequences of ending his own appeals. It's a move that could dramatically accelerate the timeline in a death penalty case that has already spanned more than two decades.

Most death row inmates spend years, and sometimes decades, pursuing every available appeal to delay execution. Lorenzo has done the opposite. In 2022, he wrote a 147-page confession admitting in detail how he drugged, tortured and killed both men, asking to be sentenced to death and pledging not to fight it.

Now he’s attempting to fire the very lawyers responsible for preserving his appellate rights.

PREVIOUS: Convicted killer Steven Lorenzo back in court for competency hearing after being sent to death row

Legal analysts say this is highly uncommon, noting that courts must be cautious even when an inmate insists on expediting execution, because competency, not desire, determines whether a person can knowingly waive their rights.

What we don't know:

As of Thursday morning, it is unclear:

• Whether the judge will rule from the bench today or take the issue under advisement.
• Whether the CCRC attorneys will be removed if Lorenzo is deemed competent.
• How quickly the case could move to the governor’s office for a possible death warrant.