MIAMI, Oct. 16, 2007

Justice For Girl Eaten Alive By Alligators

Ex-Con Who Abandoned 5-Year-Old In Everglades Gets Death Sentence

  • Harrel Franklin Braddy

    Harrel Franklin Braddy  (AP Photo/Peter Andrew Bosch)

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(AP)  A man convicted of murder for leaving a 5-year-old girl to be eaten alive by alligators in the Everglades was sentenced to death Monday.

A defense attorney said Harrel Franklin Braddy, who already served time in prison for attempted murder but was released early for good behavior, had befriended Shandelle Maycock and her daughter, Quatisha, through his involvement in church outreach programs.

Maycock testified that Braddy showed up at her house in 1998 and grew enraged when she asked him to leave.

Prosecutors said Braddy drove the girl's mother to a remote sugarcane field, choked her to unconsciousness and left her to die. Maycock woke up bleeding and disoriented, but managed to flag down help.

Braddy drove the girl to a section of Interstate 75 in the Everglades known as Alligator Alley and dropped her in the water beside the road, prosecutors said. She was alive when alligators bit her on the head and stomach, a medical examiner said.

Authorities found the girl's body two days later, her left arm missing and her skull crushed, prosecutors said.

Braddy, 58, was convicted in July of first-degree murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and other charges.
Quote

The State is grateful that Quatisha's small voice was finally heard, and that the defendant received the sentence he so rightfully earned.

prosecutor Abbe Rifkin

Judge Leonard E. Glick also sentenced Braddy to three consecutive life terms for kidnapping and burglary with an assault charges. He also got 30 years in prison for the attempted murder of Maycock, 15 years for child neglect causing great bodily harm and five years for attempted escape.

"I'm saddened for both families," said Braddy's attorney, G.P. Della Fera.

Maycock sobbed during the initial sentencing as she told jurors how her life without her only child would never be the same. The girl she nicknamed "Candy" had just started kindergarten and loved writing her name and singing along with the church choir.

"The State is grateful that Quatisha's small voice was finally heard, and that the defendant received the sentence he so rightfully earned," prosecutor Abbe Rifkin said in a statement.


© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 60 Comments
by incog-nito October 17, 2007 3:53 AM EDT
The justice system failed again. You don''t release someone for attempted murder. Attempted murder is EXACTLY the same as murder, except that the victim didn''t die. The intent to kill is exactly the same, so there is no reason why the sentence should be less. The victim may be maimed, disfigured, disabled, and suffer for life. But because they survived somehow this is considered a much lesser crime. That they did was release someone who was proven to be a menace to society, with predictable and tragic results.
Reply to this comment
by chucklovesto October 17, 2007 2:25 AM EDT
I have a good idea??? Why don''t they bring back the hangman or electric chair. Did Harrel think he wasn''t going to get cought. I pray for the child. I hope she''s in with the angels. Just ask Harrel How doe''s it feel to breath air at your age. and see smell sleep hmmm Harrel put your feet in the defenceless little girl shoe''s. She didn''t do a thing to harm you. You did it yourself. I''m across the US and I have bad visions of the little angel. I wish I was there to help her out. I hope every breath you breath is rotten flesh.
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by nurse70-2009 October 17, 2007 1:19 AM EDT
THIS MAN SHOULD BE SLOWLY CUT AND LEFT TO BLEED TO DEATH! WITH THAT SAID (HAVING BEEN A NURSE AT A REGIONAL JAIL WITH 650 INMATES)I CAN''T HELP BUT WONDER WHY MOTHER''S ARE NOT VERY CAREFUL ABOUT WHO THEY ALLOW TO ENTER THE LIFE OF THEIR CHILD? SHE AND EVERY OTHER PARENT IN THIS WORLD HAS THE UPMOST RESPONSIBILITY TO SCREEN ANY PERSON THAT IS AROUND THEIR BABIES,BEFORE FINDING OUT THAT THEY HAVE PRIOR ARRESTS!MANY INMATES TURN TO RELIGION, BOTH WHILE INCARCERATED AND UPON RELEASE. BEING CHRISTIANS WE WANT TO OPEN OUR HEARTS TO TROUBLED PEOPLE.THAT CANNOT BE AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR CHILDREN! WHILE I DO FEEL SORRY FOR THE MOTHER,OVER AND OVER THESE EXCONS ARE ENABLED BY STARRY EYED WOMAN. BE SENSIBLE AND DON''T LET YOUR NEEDS/WANTS OUTWEIGH THE SECURITY OF YOUR HOME. PARENTS BEWARE!! MOST OFFENDERS ARE FREQUENT FLIERS WHO PROGRESSIVELY WORSEN WITH TIME. JESUS HIMSELF WOULD HAVE TO COME DOWN FROM THE HEAVENS AND PERSONALLY NOTORIZE (IN FRONT OF ME) AN EXCONS TONGUE BEFORE I WOULD BELIEVE A WORD THEY TRIED TO FEED ME.WE TOO MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE CHOICES WE MAKE AND WHO WE CHOOSE TO INTERACT WITH.SADLY ANOTHER CHILD DIED DUE TO A PARENTS IGNORANCE AND A FILTHY PREDATOR. (AND I DON''T MEAN THE ALLIGATORS).
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by cyberdjs4 October 16, 2007 11:28 PM EDT
I''m no longer shocked by how pu-dekcuf people are on this planet.

Religion doesn''t matter.
Therapy doesn''t matter.
Justice doesn''t matter.
Awareness doesn''t matter.

Humans are flawed, period.
Non-human lifeforms don''t have these problems.
Reply to this comment
by grazinggoat October 16, 2007 11:24 PM EDT
Makes me sick what he did to this little girl and her Mom. He needs to give a taste of his testes to the alligators. And the rest to be done in prison, where, seemingly, such low life are rewarded on a daily basis, so they regret they were born.
Reply to this comment
by ladyd1800 October 16, 2007 10:53 PM EDT
So why are we going to keep this guy in jail for file appeal after appeal? Why not just dump is butt in Aligator Alley? I''ll give him a ride, cheaper in gas then the taxes I''ll have to pay to let him fight the verdit! Aligator Alley here we come!
Reply to this comment
by toolmangler-2009 October 16, 2007 10:29 PM EDT
I understand evil. Yes, I could slowly terminate this bonebag with extreme pleasure. It may not bring bac the innocent lost, but it would make sure he couldn''''t do the same to another. I believe in GOD, and know I will answer for my wrongs in the end, but don''''t try to tell me what a Christian believes. You know what you believe, you know what the preacher tells you to believe, but are you or that preacher true Christians.

Posted by Klingon69 at 02:26 PM : Oct 16, 2007


I try to be a True Christian but I fail miserably. I agree with Klingon69 about having it within me to dismember this "sigh" human with extreme pain. Knowing that I have it inside me just makes it harder to be the person I want to be, but I keep trying. At this time I would not do what I wish, but thats just ''today'', I hope that tomorrow I will be the same as today. I won''t know that till I have lived through tomorrow. Would you?
Reply to this comment
by toolmangler-2009 October 16, 2007 10:07 PM EDT
Posted by mokemorgan at 04:43 PM : Oct 16, 2007



oooppss. I misread, that was already covered by mokemorgan
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by toolmangler-2009 October 16, 2007 10:02 PM EDT
Posted by grpdiver at 04:34 PM : Oct 16, 2007



Boy, did you ever misread. They were talking about the human animal "Harrel Franklin Braddy"
Reply to this comment
by ralan40 October 16, 2007 8:48 PM EDT
...it only takes a few prison guards to look away....Like in the case of Jeffery Dahmer...who says there''s no death penalty in Wisconsin?
Reply to this comment
by tank88 October 16, 2007 7:52 PM EDT
Hey "shutUPfreak", I think you just won your own award.
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by mokemorgan October 16, 2007 7:43 PM EDT
The "animal" they were referring to was the Creep Braddy. Duhhhhh
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by GRPDiver October 16, 2007 7:34 PM EDT
"The fact that this animal took the life of an innocent girl in such a malicious way." Posted by pack92fan at 03:52 PM : Oct 16, 2007

That implies that an animal can have "intent." There was nothing "malicious" in what the animal did. The animal operates on instinct. Alligators, sharks, etc. are not evil animals, but just at the top of the food chain and they don''t "eat" people. Yes, there have animal been attacks and people have died. As in this case, the sensational headline "Girl Eaten Alive By Alligators" is more appropriate for supermarket tabloids. The headline should have been "Heartless Murderer Gets Death," but that will not attract as many readers to the advertisement for CBS Sports and Sprint.
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by zootallures2 October 16, 2007 7:33 PM EDT
Barbaric!
Reply to this comment
by tank88 October 16, 2007 7:32 PM EDT
"Revenge is Mine, says the Lord" is true. And I say "Let''s arrange the meeting between God and Mr Braddy as soon as possible.
Reply to this comment
by GRPDiver October 16, 2007 7:21 PM EDT
Do not mistake revenge for justice. Most comments here call for revenge. Justice is something completely different.
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by incog-nito October 16, 2007 6:59 PM EDT
This guy should never have been released in the first place. Attempted murder is the same as murder, except that for some reason the victim got lucky. The intent to kill is there. This is what I''ve been saying all along: Justice should be first about protecting society, not just about punishment. That means if someone is proven to be a threat to society, that person should be removed from society, period. Putting them in prison for a few years as "punishment" will only delay the day another person gets hurt or killed. This has happened time and again.
Reply to this comment
by Krazcarl October 16, 2007 6:58 PM EDT
GLOBAL_CHICK...I''m sure I toss your child to alligators you''d be the fist to forgive get real you don''t look good on that soapbox.
Reply to this comment
by stephengosson October 16, 2007 6:53 PM EDT
Gather together all the comments from all discussion forums, letters to the editor, etc., and make that his only reading material until his execution.
If he refuses to read them, or can''t, record them and play them back repeatedly into his cell during all his waking hours.
Reply to this comment
by pack92fan October 16, 2007 6:52 PM EDT
hschwarz2 -
Don''t let religion blur you from what is fact. The fact that this animal took the life of an innocent girl in such a malicious way. Nothing wrong with bringing this man to his eternal fate early...let the gators savor his rotten flesh.
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