Amid rumors of jail house romance, Rosalie Martinez lost status, wealth and her husband while defending accused serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin Jr.
Now, she has pledged to cash in on her notoriety by "making millions" that she will use to defend Bolin, convicted last month in the Pasco County murder retrial of Teri Lynn Matthews, 26.
"It really isn't right how the media has portrayed this," said Martinez, who said she has several book and movie deals in the works. "It makes for a juicy story, and it's going to make me millions of dollars."
Bolin "will be afforded rich man's justice one day," Martinez said.
Martinez, a member of Bolin's defense team, spoke after appearing Monday on the debut of the nationally syndicated talk show In Person with Maureen O'Boyle.
On the show, Martinez was cast as being "in love with a serial killer." Although both Martinez and Bolin professed their love for each other, each denied any physical aspect to it.
"I love her dearly," Bolin said during a telephone interview on the show. "I just don't know how to describe it."
"It's true love," said Martinez, who turned 38 on Sept. 3. "He can't offer me anything. He can't give me anything. He can't put his arms around me and tell me it's all right. It's a love that's pure and true. It's not marred by, "We can't pay the electric bill.' "
Martinez, who has moved from Tampa and is attending classes at the University of Florida in hopes of becoming a lawyer, said she was disappointed at how she was portrayed on the program.
But if it helps sell her story and make money, she will use it to help prove Bolin innocent, she said.
"If people think it's lewd and lascivious because I'm trying to help him, then let them," said Martinez, whose husband filed for divorce during the middle of last month's murder trial. "I think it's cruel and malicious for people to continue this."
In the early 1990s, Bolin was sentenced to death for killing Matthews and two Hillsborough women, but won new trials after the state Supreme Court overturned the verdicts.
A Pasco County jury recommended electrocution after he was convicted again last month of Matthews' stabbing and beating death. He has not yet been sentenced.
