Even Pope John Paul II weighed in on the issue, saying Martinez's life should be spared.

The controversy intensified last year when the Florida Supreme Court overturned Martinez's conviction and ordered a new trial.

Tuesday, the debate evaporated. Just before a 12-member jury was chosen for Martinez's retrial, prosecutors announced they would not seek his execution for the murder of Sherry McCoy.

Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober declined to discuss the decision. But it pleased Martinez's lawyer, David Parry.

``I think this is something [the state attorney's office] may have decided over the weekend,'' Parry said. ``It was a pleasant surprise for us this morning in court.''

The decision also surprised a throng of Spanish reporters who had descended on the Hillsborough County Courthouse for the retrial. Several said the case will no longer hold the same interest in Spain, where the death penalty is opposed.

McCoy, 26, was shot once and stabbed 23 times in her rural Hillsborough County home in October 1995. Martinez also was given a life sentence, which still stands, for the shooting death of McCoy's boyfriend, Douglas Lawson, 26. Prosecutors have said the couple, killed the same day, owed Martinez money.

The state Supreme Court ordered Martinez's retrial in the McCoy case last June because the prosecution allowed a witness to offer an opinion to the jury on Martinez's guilt.

Last week, the case was dealt another blow when Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett ruled that a taped conversation between Martinez and his ex-wife concerning the killings was inaudible and therefore could not be introduced as evidence in the retrial.

The tapes were admitted in 1997, but this time defense attorneys decided to hire expert Bruce Koenig to listen to them. Koenig said the tapes were inaudible. Padgett also heard them and agreed.

Koenig, who once ran the FBI's videotape and audiotape lab, also testified for the defense in the case of Marlene and Steve Aisenberg.

Several Spanish dignitaries who believe Martinez is innocent are expected to attend the retrial when it begins at 9 a.m. today.

If convicted this time, Martinez faces a second life prison term.