One of South Florida’s most disturbing murder cases is back in court. Harrel Braddy, now 76 years old, is facing a new sentencing hearing that could once again put him on death row for a crime that has haunted Miami-Dade County since 1998. Jury selection began this month, reopening a case centered on the killing of a five-year-old girl who was left alone in the Everglades and killed by alligators.
Braddy was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Quantisha “Candy” Maycock after prosecutors said he attacked her mother, forced both into his car, and later abandoned the child near a canal known to be filled with alligators. Her body was found days later with injuries consistent with an animal attack. A jury found Braddy guilty in 2007 and recommended the death penalty. That sentence was later thrown out after Florida courts ruled the original jury recommendation did not meet constitutional standards because it was not unanimous.
Now the case is back because Florida law has changed. Under updated rules, a death sentence can be imposed even if the jury is not unanimous. Prosecutors are again asking for the harshest punishment, while the defense points to Braddy’s age and the amount of time that has passed.
Nearly three decades later, the details of this case remain just as heavy. A child lost her life in one of the most horrifying ways imaginable, and the legal system is still deciding how punishment should look all these years later.
