MIAMI, FL. (AP) - A South Florida man has been sentenced to death for the savage 2005 slaying of a Miami-area waitress.
A Miami-Dade judge sentenced 51-year-old Rafael Andres on Wednesday. Jurors previously convicted Andres of first-degree murder and recommended death by a 9-3 vote.
Trial testimony showed that Andres beat, stabbed and strangled 31-year-old Yvette Farinas with a rice cooker cord. He had been working as a handyman at a home attached to her apartment, and after the killing stole her ATM card. A neighbor saw Andres with a gas can next to the apartment before it went up in flames.
The Miami Herald reports that Andres was previously convicted in 1987 of another woman's slaying, but wound up serving only 18 months in prison.
