Leon Davis, convicted of burning two women and now accused of shooting two clerks waives jury trial

BARTOW, Fla. - A man now on death row for the burning deaths of two women in 2007 has waived his right to a jury trial in the murders of two clerks at a Lake Alfred convenience store that same month.

Instead, Leon Davis will receive a bench trial, which means Circuit Judge Donald Jacobson will hear the case and decide his fate.

Davis was previously convicted of strapping the two women into chairs at a Lake Wales insurance office in December 2007.  He doused them was gasoline and set them on fire.

One of the women was pregnant.  The baby later died.

Davis now stands accused in the shooting deaths of Pravinkumar Patel, 33, and Dashrath Patel, 52, at the BP station on State Road 557 in Lake Alfred.

A major concern before Monday's development was the ability to seat an impartial jury due to the intense publicity that had surrounded the Lake Wales murders and trial.

Trial is now set to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, September 18.