A jury recommended Harrel Braddy should be sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of 5-year-old Quantisha Maycock. (Miami-Dade Corrections)
Miami
A Florida man found guilty in the killing of a young girl nearly three decades ago has been given a life sentence.
After more than three hours of deliberations, jurors recommended Harrel Braddy, 76, be sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of 5-year-old Quantisha Maycock, WTVJ reports.
Authorities said Braddy had dropped off the 5-year-old in the Everglades to be eaten alive by alligators after kidnapping her and her mother, Shandelle Maycock.
Prosecutors in the case said Braddy attacked Shandelle Maycock after she rejected his advances and that he left her dead in a deserted area near the Broward-Palm Beach County line, the Miami Herald reports.
Out of fear that Quantisha could identify him, investigators said he then dumped the child in Alligator Alley; her body was found in a canal days later by fishermen.
In 2007, Braddy was found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and other charges.
The jury at that time recommended the death penalty, but that recommendation was later overturned after Florida’s death penalty sentencing law was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
On Friday, the jury sided with Braddy’s attorneys in his resentencing trial and chose life in prison for his sentence.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez formally sentenced Braddy after the verdict was read.