Jurors tasked with deciding whether a man who killed his wife and her two young daughters should be executed will be shielded from testimony about him participating in a Santería ceremony after the murders, a judge ruled Monday.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez barred the introduction of evidence about Alberto Sierra, 42, practicing Santería, which is an Afro-Caribbean religion with roots in the Yoruba religion that incorporates some Catholic elements, during Sierra’s death penalty sentencing trial. The judge said she considered the “negative connotation” in the community.
Last month, Sierra pleaded guilty to suffocating Gladys Machado, 29, and her daughters Julia Padron, 7, and Daniela Padron, 4, with a plastic bag on Nov. 10, 2012. Three days later, a neighbor found their bodies inside a bedroom closet in their Flagami home on the 7300 block of Northwest Fourth Street.
The jury, which is tasked with deciding whether Sierra should be condemned to Florida’s Death Row or sentenced to life in prison, is still being selected as of Tuesday. Attorneys have screened about 800 potential jurors…