A sharply divided Florida Supreme Court ordered a death row inmate’s lawyer to remain on the case even though convicted murderer James Robertson wants to be executed.

Robertson’s public defender, Steven Bolotin of Bartow, asked to be removed from the case earlier this year, arguing Florida Bar rules require him to represent his client’s wishes. Robertson, who has spent more than three decades in prison, was sentenced to death in 2012 for killing his cellmate four years earlier.