15 years after daughter’s slaying, Jorge Barahona might finally go to trial
After 15 years, Jorge Barahona — the Westchester electrician charged with the brutal murder of his adopted daughter — might finally face a jury.
During a hearing Wednesday morning, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Andrea Wolfson said she wanted Barahona, 58, to go to trial in October or November. Barahona has been behind bars since March 2011 after being accused of killing of 10-year-old Nubia Barahona and torturing her twin brother Victor.
Barahona’s attorney, Stephan Lopez, said a trial date in that time frame was “unrealistic.” Lopez took the case in December after Barahona fired his previous court-appointed attorney.
Wearing red jail attire reserved for high-security inmates, Barahona sat quietly throughout the hearing. He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and a slew of child-abuse offenses. He is facing the death penalty if convicted.
Barahona’s wife, Carmen Barahona, 75, was also charged in connection to Nubia’s killing. In 2020, she struck a plea deal with prosecutors, agreeing to a life sentence in exchange for her testimony.
Carmen will sit through a deposition in the case in July.
READ MORE: Barahona competent to stand trial for murder of daughter, torture of twin brother
The brief hearing came a day after back-and-forth between the attorneys and the judge over delays in the case. Outside the courtroom, Lopez said he is “moving fast” to a trial date.
“Mr. Barahona has indicated he’s not guilty, and he wants his trial,” Lopez told reporters.
Among the reasons for the delay: Barahona was found incompetent to stand trial for years. Last July, Wolfson found Barahona competent, ruling that Barahona was capable of aiding his defense attorneys and understands the severity of the penalties should he be found guilty.
Daughter burned with chemicals
On Feb. 14, 2011, police uncovered Nubia’s badly decomposed body wrapped in plastic and covered with chemicals in the back of Barahona’s pick-up truck on the side of I-95 in West Palm Beach.
Victor, who somehow survived, was in the truck’s cab suffering seizures from chemical burns. Next to Victor in the driver’s seat: Barahona, who also managed to burn himself with chemicals, according to police.
It wasn’t long before a probe into the Barahonas’ home uncovered gruesome acts against their children, police said. Barahona and his wife, Carmen, beat and tortured the twins, tying them with electrical cord and shocking them in a bathtub with the door locked, investigators said. A state legislator said the couple smeared feces onto the twins’ faces when they were upset with them.
The state’s child-welfare agency was heavily scrutinized for its failures in protecting Nubia and Victor. Victor, who was last known to be living with relatives in Texas, was awarded $3.75 million by Florida state legislators in 2017.
The next hearing in the case is set for Tuesday, May 12.
