STARKE, Fla. -- Prosecutors said they will not decide until March how to handle the cases of five other guards charged with killing a death-row inmate.

A Bradford County jury acquitted Friday three guards in the July 1999 death of inmate Frank Valdes.

State Attorney Bill Cervone gave the three trial prosecutors and an investigator the rest of the month off to rest. Cervone said he would meet with them and representatives of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Department of Corrections before deciding on how to proceed with the remaining cases.

If prosecutors take the case to trial, they will again face the daunting prospect of choosing a jury in Bradford County, where the Department of Corrections is the largest employer.

Cervone said defense attorneys would have somewhat of an advantage in any future trial because they have heard the state's evidence in the case.

Meanwhile, Valdes's widow, Wanda Valdes (pictured, left), of West Palm Beach, said she would talk to reporters for the first time Wednesday morning at a news conference in her attorney's Miami office.