In a Miami courtroom on Tuesday, Michael Padrino Jr. recalled how he didn’t want to join his mother and his two young sisters on a shopping trip to the mall almost 14 years ago.
Instead, Padrino, who was then 5, stayed with his great-grandmother to watch “Caso Cerrado,” a Spanish-language reality court show, in her Homestead residence. That decision probably saved the life of Padrino, who is now 19.
Padrino took the stand in the sentencing trial of Alberto Sierra, 42. Sierra admitted to suffocating his estranged wife, Gladys Machado, 29, and her daughters Julia Padrino, 6, and Daniela Padrino, 3, with a plastic bag on Nov. 10, 2012. Their bodies were found inside a closet at the Flagami home they once shared three days after they were killed.
The fate of Sierra is in the hands of 12 jurors who are tasked with deciding whether Sierra, who pleaded guilty to the murders, should be condemned to death or sentenced to life in prison. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez is presiding.
Prosecutor Lara Penn displayed a photo of Padrino smiling alongside his sisters Julia and Daniela. Padrino testified that they dressed up for that photoshoot around Easter…