Hoping to spare his life, fellow inmates testify for killer of La Carreta waitress
A Death Row inmate who is scheduled to be executed later this month was among several inmates who testified Monday in an effort to spare the life of the Miami handyman who beat, stabbed and strangled a La Carreta waitress.
Shackled and wearing red jail attire, Rafael Andres, 61, sat in court for his Spencer hearing, where his attorneys presented final arguments in the hopes of saving Andres from the death penalty. Attorneys Sean Marcus and Joyce Brenner presented testimony from fellow inmates and a mental health expert as mitigating evidence.
Andres was mostly quiet throughout the proceeding, although he occasionally laughed and smiled as one of his Death Row friends testified.
In November, a jury recommended in a 9-3 vote that Andres be executed for the Jan. 24, 2005 slaying of Yvette Fariñas. But Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Zachary James has the final say – and will formally sentence Andres to the death penalty or life in prison. In Florida, judges can override a jury’s recommendation, if jurors say the defendant should be sent to Death Row.
READ MORE: Killer who stabbed, strangled La Carreta waitress should get death, jury says
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Andres should be executed due to the brutality of the killing and a murder Andres previously committed. The defense said the killer should be spared because years of cocaine abuse damaged his brain and, while in prison, Andres has embarked on a journey of spirituality and redemption.
Andres, who was on Death Row, was granted a new sentencing trial due to constitutional issues surrounding the state’s death penalty. In 2015, a Miami jury condemned Andres to die, also in a 9-3 vote.
Fellow inmates sing praises
During the hearing, Chadwick Willacy, 58, testified on Zoom that he and Andres were “neighbors” on Florida’s Death Row and frequently discussed religion, family and recipes. Willacy, who received the death penalty for beating his neighbor with a hammer and setting her on fire in 1990 in Palm Bay, Florida, is scheduled to be executed on April 21.
Andres broke up fights in the recreation yard, Willacy said. He added that Andres shared commissary items when new men arrived on “the Row.” Andres also assisted Willacy in appealing his conviction and sentence, Willacy said during cross-examination.
After Willacy’s testimony, Andres briefly spoke directly to his former prison neighbor, saying Willacy was a “true brother.” Andres told Willacy he loved him and that if he “got to heaven before me, I will see you there.”
Also testifying via Zoom, William Sweet, 58, smiled upon seeing Andres. He called him his “brother” in Spanish and noted that he learned Spanish from Andres while on “the Row.” Sweet was sentenced to die for the 1990 murder of a 13-year-old girl during a robbery in Jacksonville.
“He has something you don’t normally see in prison,” Sweet said. “He gives you something to uplift yourself.”
Andres, Sweet said, was a peacemaker for other condemned inmates, stopping fights on the basketball court at Florida State Prison, where Death Row inmates used to be housed. Sweet said he believes Andres, if given a life sentence, will show inmates who may one day be released a “better way to see things.”
“I miss the brother, but not enough to see him back here,” Sweet said. “...Rafael is what you need out there.”
Kenneth Williams crossed paths with Andres at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in the early 2010s. Andres — who was known as “Gorilla” in the jail — used to keep the dorm in order and is an “asset” to guards and inmates, he said.
”If a situation occurred in the back …with another inmate, he would dial the situation down,” Williams said as he testified from prison via Zoom. “He was always trying to help.”
But Williams, who is now serving a 15-year prison sentence on a slew of charges, including attempted murder, said that he is thankful that Andres stepped in and saved his life when he was attacked in 2013 during a security breach in the jail’s maximum security wing.
Williams said he held onto Andres’ leg and begged him not to leave him. Andres, Williams testified, “kept the peace” until officers arrived.
“For him to put his life in danger for me, a stranger he didn’t even know, that speaks volumes,” Williams said. “...If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be alive.”
A brutal slaying
The testimony from Andres’ prison pals stands in stark contrast to the account of the brutal murder for which Andres faces a return to Death Row.
In 2005, Andres killed Fariñas, a 31-year-old server at La Carreta’s Miami International Airport location, at her home. Andres, a handyman, had been hired to do renovations at the efficiency she lived in with her boyfriend.
The handyman used a spare key to enter the efficiency and beat her in the face until she gave up her ATM card’s pin code, prosecutors say. Andres held her wrists and stabbed her three times in the chest — but Fariñas didn’t die.
He then put a dish towel over her face and strangled her with the cord, according to prosecutors. He then attempted to light a fire to burn down the evidence — but his plan was foiled by a neighbor who had spotted Andres leaving the scene.
Farinas’ murder isn’t the only slaying to which Andres was linked.
In 1988, Andres was convicted of stabbing to death 32-year-old Linda Azcarreta, a friend of his wife. Andres claimed he killed Azcarreta on March 9, 1987, in a frenzy of drug use. He cashed a $100 check meant for her after the murder.
Andres pleaded guilty to the killing and was sentenced to nine years but walked free after just 18 months due to his good behavior while behind bars.
This story was originally published April 6, 2026 at 6:17 PM.
