Robert Castro, 30, attacked convicted murderer Otto Lenke inside a St. Lucie County Jail dorm on July 6, knocking off his glasses and cutting his nose, according to an arrest affidavit filed July 20. Castro is awaiting a possible retrial in the fatal shooting of his former girlfriend, Taylor Ann Sato, outside her Timber Ridge Lane home in Fort Pierce in 2022.
A jail sergeant witnessed Castro strike Lenke in the face, and surveillance video captured the attack. Lenke told a detective he had been using a jail-issued tablet to watch a chess game when Castro approached and hit him. A deputy noticed a cut on the upper part of Lenke's nose, and a nurse treated the injury.
Castro refused to speak with investigators on July 16, repeatedly stating he did not understand his Miranda rights. He is now charged with battery by a person detained in a prison or jail facility, a felony.
Lenke, a former Melbourne police officer and Indian River County firefighter, was convicted in May of first-degree murder and first-degree arson in the 2021 death of Richard Benson. Prosecutors said Lenke shot Benson three times inside Benson's Fort Pierce motorcycle shop, poured an accelerant on him and set him on fire while he was still alive. A jury voted 11-1 to recommend that Lenke be sentenced to death.
Castro was convicted in 2024 of first-degree murder with a firearm in the death of Sato and sentenced to life in prison. The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed his conviction in February after finding the trial court failed to properly complete the process for determining whether Castro was competent to stand trial. The appellate court ruled that a two-year-old evaluation was not sufficient because competency must be assessed close to the time of trial.
The case was sent back to the trial court to determine whether Castro's competency during the 2024 trial can now be reliably evaluated. Castro would receive a new trial if a retrospective evaluation cannot be conducted or if the court determines he was not competent during the original trial.