ORLANDO, Fla. – A judge heard testimony and allowed evidence to be submitted ahead of sentencing for Bessman Okafor, the man who was convicted in the 2012 murder of Alex Zaldivar.
During a Spencer hearing on Monday, witness Brienna Campos and Alex Zaldivar’s father, Rafael Zaldivar, told Judge Lisa Munyon that Okafor should receive the death penalty.
“I’m dedicating my life to my son. I seek justice,” Rafael Zaldivar said. “He has a debt to pay us and that debt he needs to pay with his life.”
Okafor’s 2015 death sentence got caught up in the constitutional dispute over whether a jury’s death penalty recommendation had to be unanimous. The jury had voted 11-1 in favor of the death penalty.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled jury recommendations for a death sentence had to be unanimous in 2016, so Okafor’s sentence was overturned. But in the last few years, a more conservative Supreme Court revisited the issue and decided jury death sentence recommendations do not have to be unanimous.
After that, the state legislature passed a new law requiring only an 8-4 vote to recommend the death penalty.
In January, jurors voted 9-3 in favor of the death penalty.
During Monday’s hearing, the defense submitted evidence of original witness statements, which they said showed Okafor wasn’t definitively identified as the gunman.
Outside the courtroom, Rafael Zaldivar said the evidence shouldn’t sway the judge’s decision.
“It’s not going to move the needle,” Zaldivar said. “These guys are all cherry-picking different statements. They skip in between pages.”
Judge Munyon is expected to issue Okafor’s sentence during a hearing on June 24.
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