Miami-Dade man resentenced to death row for 2005 murder of La Carreta waitress

A man convicted of killing a La Carreta waitress is back on death row for the second time after a new jury sentenced him to death on Friday. 

Rafael Andres, 61, had previously been sentenced to death in 2015 for the 2005 murder of Yvette Farinas, but the Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing trial following an appeal. The new jury reached the same conclusion.

Farinas worked as a waitress at the La Carreta location at Miami International Airport. Investigators said she had hired Andres, a handyman, to renovate her home. Instead, investigators said Andres beat, stabbed and strangled Farinas with an electrical cord from a rice cooker before leaving her body in a burning home. He also used the victim's ATM card to steal more than $1,600.

"It's finally closure," said Rene Azcarreta, whose mother, Linda, was stabbed to death in 1988. "I feel like a massive weight (lifted). I can kind of breathe a little."

Azcarreta spoke on behalf of two families who have waited decades for the sentencing. He discovered his mother's body when he was seven years old. Andres plead guilty to the 1988 murder and was sentenced to nine years in prison, but served only 18 months.

In a 350-page letter submitted to the court, Andres' attorney requested a life sentence without the possibility of parole, attributing his violent behavior to cocaine use.

Azcarreta believes the conviction for Farinas' murder 15 years later confirms the necessity of the death penalty for Andres.

"(Andres was) given an opportunity, a free card if you will, and (he messed) it all up," Azcarreta said. "You don't deserve what you have right now."

Andres' sentence makes him the first Miami-Dade County inmate sent to death row in more than a decade.