Jury chosen in death-penalty trial of man who killed wife and her two daughters

Crime admin September 17, 2026 0 Comments

Jury chosen in death-penalty trial of man who killed wife and her two daughters

After weeks of jury selection, a jury was seated Wednesday evening for the death-penalty trial of a man who admitted to suffocating his estranged wife and her two young daughters with a plastic bag.

Twelve jurors and eight alternate jurors were selected to serve in the trial of Alberto Sierra, 42. Sierra admitted to suffocating Gladys Machado, 29, and her daughters Julia Padron, 8, and Daniela Padron, 4, on Nov. 10, 2012.

Three days after the slayings, a neighbor found their bodies inside a bedroom closet in their Flagami home in the 7300 block of Northwest Fourth Street.

Sierra’s trial is slated to begin with opening statements on Sept. 29. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez will preside.

READ MORE: Future of man who admitted to killing wife, young girls will be up to Miami jury

The jurors were selected after attorneys screened about 800 potential jurors during a month period. The jury, whose members are mostly men, is comprised of people of a wide array of ages and various backgrounds.

The 12 jurors will be tasked with voting on whether Sierra should be condemned to Florida’s Death Row or sentenced to life in prison. They won’t have to decide on Sierra’s guilt because Sierra pleaded guilty during a hearing on Aug. 7.

For the jury to recommend execution, eight out of the 12 jurors have to vote for the death penalty.

In the middle of jury selection, prosecutors cast doubt on the validity of Sierra’s plea after they reviewed a jail call in which Sierra said his attorneys had an agreement that would spare him from the death penalty.

READ MORE: A jail call — and doubt about plea — emerges before killer’s death penalty trial

Under oath, Sierra said his attorneys did not promise him a certain outcome or tell him there was an agreement to get him a life sentence. He said he made the statement on the call to “alleviate” a friend’s concerns about him being executed.

Triple murder shocks Miami

Machado and Sierra, who had a history of domestic violence, split up shortly before the killings. Machado, a mother of three, moved in with her grandmother in Homestead while Sierra stayed with his mother at her townhome in Kendall.

On the evening of the murders, Machado went on a shopping trip with her two daughters, leaving her 6-year-old son with her grandmother, court records indicate.

Sierra accompanied Machado and her daughters to the Mall of the Americas in West Miami-Dade in Machado’s 2004 gold Nissan Altima. A woman living at an efficiency near the home saw the Altima that night but said it was gone by 11:30 p.m.

The Altima was not spotted again until Nov. 19, when police officers discovered it parked in a guest spot at Kendall’s Calusa Club apartments, 8810 SW 132nd Ave., across the street from the home of Sierra’s mother.

The Altima was backed into bushes “so as to conceal the tag number,” according to police. Inside, investigators found blood on both the passenger and driver’s side seats.

When questioned by police days after the murders, Sierra confessed to the crimes:

He told detectives that he stabbed Machado inside her car after she, in his presence, took a phone call from another man. He then drove her and her daughters to their home. There, Sierra suffocated them with a plastic bag.

Sierra also raped Machado and Julia after they were dead, investigators say. DNA samples taken from Julia matched Sierra. Fingerprints at the scene were also linked to Sierra, according to prosecutors.