Man guilty of abducting mom, feeding daughter to alligators

[Guard Dog]

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A man who had been released from prison early for good behavior was convicted Tuesday of trying to kill a young mother and leaving her 5-year-old daughter to be eaten alive by alligators in the Everglades.

 

Harrel Franklin Braddy had befriended Shandelle May**** and her daughter Quatisha. May**** testified that Braddy went to her home in November 1998 and grew enraged when she asked him to leave.

 

He choked May**** until she was unconscious and then forced her and Quatisha into his car, the woman testified. At one point, May**** gained consciousness, grabbed the child and jumped out of the moving vehicle.

 

Braddy stopped, choked the woman again and put her in the trunk, she testified. May**** never saw her daughter again. Prosecutors said Braddy then drove to a section of Interstate 75 in the Everglades known as Alligator Alley and dropped Quatisha in the water beside the road.

 

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. May**** woke up bleeding and disoriented in a cane field miles from her Miami-Dade County home.

 

Braddy had served 13 years of a 30-year prison sentence for attempted murder before being released early for good behavior.

 

The trial had been delayed for nearly nine years because Braddy has fired several attorneys and represented himself at one point. His attorney, G.P. Della Feram, declined to comment.

 

A dozen law enforcement officers stood guard, aware that Braddy has escaped from the courthouse before. He fled after trying to strangle a Miami-Dade corrections officer in 1984.

 

Braddy was convicted of seven counts including first-degree murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, burglary and escape. He faces the death penalty.

 

This is what happens when you let these beasts out of jail early. I will bet there will be many of you who will tell me he does not deserve the death penalty. And I will admit I have softened my stance on it based on some of your arguments (particularly Enoch and Wals). But every now and then one comes along that is so heinous and revolting, any other punishment seems hollow. This is one of them.

[Laozi]

you would kill those alligators? you monster!!

[metadigital]

They make nice shoes!

[Aram]

That's a really poorly written article. Have they got the guy or what?

[Gorgon]

**** ?

[Sand]

The man should be put to death. This is the sort of thing why I am for full punishments, no parole for anyone, and pro-death penalty.

[Guard Dog]

**** ?

That would be the boards text filter. The ladys last name was May(sounds like rock with a "c"),

[Aram]

Rocc?

[DeathScepter]

lets feed him to the alligators............Fair play

[Fenghuang]

Rocc?

 

Nah man, that other, more vulgar, less literally correct word for ****.

[Meshugger]

It just shows that if one behaves good doesn't mean that they are let out of the prison within a shorter time. Those behaviors only suits psychopaths or sociopaths. Real psychological test should be made for each prisoner before they are deemed to be fit and released back into society. This includes testing behavioristic tendencies during mental stress and sense severe injustice.

[Walsingham]

Hey, I'm usually the first to say that for some people reform is total nonsense. If we could be sure who they were I'd be in favour of the death penalty.

 

Death penalty aside I think there is a serious weakness in the system in that many psychologist claim the ability to reform people who cannot be reformed and who are bat-poop crazy. Lethal injection or not the state has a responsibility to keep them away from regular Janes and Joes.

 

I'd like to also ask the wuestion - if this had happened to a rich white mother and her daughter what would be happening right now?

[Gorgon]

Here we go again arguing for the death penalty using one of these spectacular headline acts of violence. It deosen't become any more intelligent with repetition.

 

Legistation affecting everyone and emotional and shock appeal headlines do not mix.

[Guard Dog]

Here we go again arguing for the death penalty using one of these spectacular headline acts of violence. It deosen't become any more intelligent with repetition.

 

Legistation affecting everyone and emotional and shock appeal headlines do not mix.

 

I have moderated my position on capital punishment. A little. But this guy attempted to murder somone earlier in his life and was sentenced to 30 years in prision. He was let out early and what was the first thing he did? Murder someone. It seems if the prisons are just going to let these vermin go, excecuting them is the only way to keep us safe.

 

I'll abandon my support for capital punishment the day the US adopts truth in sentencing laws. If you draw a 30 year sentence, you spend 30 years in prison. If you get life, you leave the prision in a body bag. Plus US prisions are far too nice. They have air conditioning, cable TV, libraries, etc. If they were more like the one in The Count of Monte Cristo then I would say we don't need the death penalty.

 

You can argue that capital punishment is not effective but I do not see how. This guy got a 30 year sentence and murdered someone later. If he is exceuted for this he will not be killing anyone else will he?

[SteveThaiBinh]

They make nice shoes!

You wouldn't have thought those feet capable of precision work.

 

I still believe that anyone is capable of reform, though I respect the evidence, and reports from professionals in the field, that a great many do not reform. I've also wondered if releasing someone from jail on the judgement of a psychologist isn't sometimes giving too much weight to a very young and rather inexact science.

 

Still not a convincing argument for the death penalty though.

[Guard Dog]

They make nice shoes!

You wouldn't have thought those feet capable of precision work.

 

I still believe that anyone is capable of reform, though I respect the evidence, and reports from professionals in the field, that a great many do not reform. I've also wondered if releasing someone from jail on the judgement of a psychologist isn't sometimes giving too much weight to a very young and rather inexact science.

 

Still not a convincing argument for the death penalty though.

This is more an argument for truth in sentencing laws (which liberals in the US hate). Had he spent 30 years in prision that little girl would be alive today.

 

 

Here is the death penalty argument. What good does sending him to prision do if he is just released after a few years. If he is excecuted, he will not hurt anyone else.

 

We do not have truth in sentencing laws. We DO have a death penalty. you need to use what you have.

[Guard Dog]

I'd like to also ask the wuestion - if this had happened to a rich white mother and her daughter what would be happening right now?

Nothing would be different. It made headline on every paper down here and they guy is likely to be excecuted. No matter what the race of his victim was we can only kill him once.

[Gorgon]

Here we go again arguing for the death penalty using one of these spectacular headline acts of violence. It deosen't become any more intelligent with repetition.

 

Legistation affecting everyone and emotional and shock appeal headlines do not mix.

 

I have moderated my position on capital punishment. A little. But this guy attempted to murder somone earlier in his life and was sentenced to 30 years in prision. He was let out early and what was the first thing he did? Murder someone. It seems if the prisons are just going to let these vermin go, excecuting them is the only way to keep us safe.

 

I'll abandon my support for capital punishment the day the US adopts truth in sentencing laws. If you draw a 30 year sentence, you spend 30 years in prison. If you get life, you leave the prision in a body bag. Plus US prisions are far too nice. They have air conditioning, cable TV, libraries, etc. If they were more like the one in The Count of Monte Cristo then I would say we don't need the death penalty.

 

You can argue that capital punishment is not effective but I do not see how. This guy got a 30 year sentence and murdered someone later. If he is exceuted for this he will not be killing anyone else will he?

It is possible to sentence someone to life without parole, that means they will not be eligable to come before the parole board. Barring pardon, they are there for the duration.

[Guard Dog]

It is possible to sentence someone to life without parole, that means they will not be eligable to come before the parole board. Barring pardon, they are there for the duration.

Yes it is possible but in most states this penalty is only availiable for first degree murder where there is a mitigating circumstance that rules out the death penalty. So it DP states it is an uncommon punishement. In non DP states it is the highest punishment and is more common there. But not much. A first degree murder conviction is rare because most of the time when a perp is on the hook for it, they will plead down to second degree murder which arries a penalty of 25 years to life. But they become parole eligible after half of their sentence (12-15 years).

 

 

If it were up to me I would suggest that we eliminate the distinction between 1st and 2nd degree murder. Any murder done with malicious intent will get you life in prision without reprieve or parole. Then I would say ok, drop the DP.

[Sand]

Oh yes, the nice belief that a leopard can change his spots, the zebra can change its stripes: Reform. Sorry, I do not think reforming a criminal is viable. Sure there may be a couple who do but if this guy didn't get out because of "good behavior" the child would still be alive and the mother unharmed. If a criminal is sentence 10 years, 20 years, 30 years in prison then he should serve those years. No parole, no getting off for good behavior, none of that crap.

 

I also agree with Guard Dog, 1st degree and 2nd degree murder needs to have the same severity in punishment. In either case the victim is dead.

[Nick_i_am]

They make nice shoes!

You wouldn't have thought those feet capable of precision work.

 

In cases of humour such as this, yeah, i'm all for the death penalty.

[Archmonarch]

Eh, there's a pretty significant difference between 1st and 2nd degree murder. In the US, most states follow one of two patterns:

 

1. First Degree Murder: All premeditated murders, and (in some states) murders involving certain especially dangerous felonies, such as arson or rape, or committed by an inmate serving a life sentence.

2. Second Degree Murder: Non pre-meditated killing.

3. Third Degree Murder: Any other murder.

 

OR

 

1. First Degree Murder: Murder involving special circumstances, such as murder of a police officer, judge, fireman or witness to a crime; multiple murders; and torture or especially heinous murders. Note that a

"regular" premeditated murder, absent such special cirumstances, is not a first-degree murder; murders by poison or "lying in wait" are not per se first-degree murders. First degree murder is pre-meditated.

2. Second Degree Murder: Any premeditated murder or felony murder that does not involve special circumstances.

 

To simply consolidate all cases of homicide into one category, without consideration for extenuating circumstances, is merely a step closer to a new Draconian legal system even more ripe for abuse than our current judiciary.

 

However, in this particular case, such a discussion is merely tangential. Though I do not approve of the death penalty (its finality being utterly irrevocable), I do believe such individuals deserve at least a life sentence. I am concerned though by the financial burden such imprisonment places upon the general populace. Thus, I look forward to the days of simulated reality when it would be possible to simply stack prisoners in automated care units and insert them into a computer-generated noosphere. Less expense, less cost, and the same result ultimately.

Edited July 19, 2007 by Archmonarch

[Sand]

Premeditated or not, it is the intent to kill that is the issue. If someone out of the blue to kill someone at random why is that a lesser crime than one who plans for days to kill someone?

[Nick_i_am]

They're called crimes of passion for a reason, and are usally directly provoced, in which case the court considers the fact that anger can cloud a persons judgement. Just because someone is capable of killing someone in the heat of a moment doesn't mean they're capable of carefully planning and premeditating someones death, rather than finding another, peaceful, solution.

The former, resulting from anger, is a universal human trait, but the latter, which suggests elements of psychopathy, is more limited.

 

This may not justify them being treated differently, but it's the reason why they are.

[Sand]

In either case the victim is still dead. In either case the intent is to kill. Lacking in ability to control one's emotions is not an excuse to commit murder.

Edited July 19, 2007 by Sand