Emotional testimony from the victims' family members close prosecution's case in Miami triple murder trial
Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday in the death penalty trial of 42-year-old Alberto Sierra.
Sierra pleaded guilty in August to the 2012 murders of his estranged wife, 29-year-old Gladys Machado, and her two daughters, 6-year-old Julia and 3-year-old Daniela Padrino, by suffocating them with a plastic bag. Sierra also admitted to investigators that he sexually abused the corpses of Machado and Julia.
Machado's son, 19-year-old Michael Padrino Jr., who was 5 years old at the time of the killings, was one of five witnesses to take the stand Tuesday.
During the trial, the prosecution presented text messages Sierra sent to Machado's friend and his own mother after the murders, in which he claimed he did not know where Machado and the girls were or what had happened to them.
Following a lunch break, family members delivered victim impact statements.
Padrino Jr. wept as he directly addressed Sierra, who sat stoically in court.
"You! You took them! You know you did. You know what you did," Padrino Jr. said.
Prior to addressing Sierra, Padrino Jr. spoke to the jury about the future that his mother and sisters were denied.
"My sisters were supposed to grow up, they were supposed to get older and get their own people, and Julia was supposed to be smart, do what she wanted — and Daniela," Padrino Jr. said. "They were supposed to have their own lives, meet people, make friends, fall in love, make their own memories… and my mom was supposed to be there for it."
Michael Padrino Sr., Machado's ex-husband and the children's father, also addressed the jury.
"Their lives, their childhood, their innocence — their chance to grow, and every year they were supposed to live was taken from them," Padrino Sr. said. "For almost 14 years, I have carried a pain, no parent should ever have to live with."
The defense is scheduled to begin its rebuttal on Wednesday morning. The jury was instructed to return to court at 9:30 a.m.