Actually, when you look at his photo, he reminds me of John Coffey from The Green Mile.

(must learn how to post photos - see link)

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MURDER IN THE EVERGLADES

A man convicted of dumping a 5-year-old girl in the Everglades and leaving her to die was given the death penalty by a Miami-Dade judge.

Harrel Franklin Braddy dumped a little girl in the Everglades nine years ago to get chewed up by alligators.

On Monday, a Miami-Dade judge sentenced Braddy to die for it.

''The defendant . . . caused this 5-year-old to die, alone in the wilderness, and to be mutilated by monsters of the swamp,'' Circuit Judge Leonard E. Glick wrote in his sentencing order. ``Adults are supposed to protect children from monsters; they are not supposed to be the monsters themselves.''

Braddy, 58, was convicted in July of the November 1998 killing of Quatisha Maycock.

The child was found dead in the Everglades with alligator bite marks on her head and stomach and her left arm severed. The medical examiner testified that the girl was still alive when one or more alligators bit her. Braddy told investigators he left Quatisha in the swamp because she witnessed him trying to kill her mother, who survived Braddy's choking attack.

Prosecutors argued for a death sentence during the penalty phase of Braddy's trial. Assistant State Attorney Abbe Rifkin told jurors about Braddy's criminal history, which included convictions for robbery, kidnapping and trying to kill a corrections officer by choking him.

The jurors in August voted 11-1 for the death penalty. Braddy showed no reaction when the decision was announced.

Braddy also sat quietly Monday as Glick announced that he was upholding the jury's recommendation of death. Braddy's parents were in the courtroom to hear the sentence. On another side, Quatisha's mother, Shandelle Maycock, crumpled a tissue in her hands and cried while a homicide counselor consoled her.

In deciding between death and life in prison without parole, Glick considered Braddy's reason for harming Quatisha -- to keep her from identifying him as the person who tried to kill her mother.

''This plan, well thought out and well carried out, could have no justification, moral or legal, but could only be the product of a person who is so cold and so calculating, so devoid of humanity and only concerned with his own welfare,'' Glick wrote.

Rifkin said the sentence fit the crime. ''Due to his own horrific actions, Harrel Braddy has caused a lot of pain to a lot of people, including the people who loved him and cared for him,'' Rifkin said. ``The state is grateful that Quatisha's small voice was finally heard, and that the defendant received the sentence he so rightfully earned.''

Braddy's attorney, Terence Lenamon, said he was ''disappointed'' at the death sentence. A public defender was appointed to handle Braddy's appellate options.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/272947.html