Judge sets trial date for Jorge Barahona, accused in daughter’s killing

The judge presiding over the case of Jorge Barahona, who is accused of murdering his 10-year-old daughter, set a trial date for March, more than 16 years after the killing, according to an order filed in court on Monday.

Read more Judge sets trial date for Jorge Barahona, accused in daughter’s killing

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Andrea Wolfson set Barahona’s trial for March 15, 2027. Barahona, 59, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and a slew of child-abuse offenses in connection to the killing of Nubia Barahona.

In the order, Wolfson said set aside eight weeks for the trial. The order also set a deadline of November for evidence the attorneys intend on introducing during the trial.

At a hearing last week, Wolfson told the attorneys Barahona must be prepared to go to trial — or to reach a plea deal. The judge pointed out how the case has been lingering in the courthouse for more than a decade. Barahona’s case is one of the oldest remaining in the courthouse.

Barahona has been behind bars since March 2011 after being accused of killing Nubia and torturing her twin brother, Victor. He is facing the death penalty, if convicted.

The case has been marked by delays as Barahona, a Westchester electrician, has fired several of the attorneys appointed to represent him. His attorneys Stephan Lopez and Jimmy Dellafera were both appointed within the last year.

Barahona was also found incompetent to stand trial for years. In July 2025, Wolfson found Barahona competent, ruling that Barahona was capable of aiding his attorneys and understands the severity of the penalties should he be found guilty.

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Barahona’s ex-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. She remains jailed at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

10-year-old girl 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 pickup truck on the side of Interstate 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 burned 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 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.

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Barahona’s next hearing is set for Oct. 6.