Florida man convicted in girl’s fatal 1998 alligator mauling faces death penalty resentencing trial
01/08/2026 2:35 pm PST
MIAMI (TCN) -- A man who was sentenced to death in 2007 for leaving a 5-year-old girl to be killed by alligators is facing a death penalty resentencing trial after his previous death sentence was vacated in 2017.
On Nov. 7, 1998, Harrel Braddy, now 76, kidnapped Shandelle Maycock and her daughter Quatisha Maycock. He beat Shandelle Maycock and left her by a highway, the Miami Herald reports. She survived, but Quatisha Maycock did not. Braddy dumped her into the water along a stretch of road in the Everglades known as Alligator Alley. Her body, which had been mauled by alligators, was found by fishermen a few days later.
Prosecutors said the child’s skull had been crushed and her left arm was missing, NBC Miami reports.
Braddy went to trial nine years later, the Herald reports. His trial was reportedly delayed because he went through 10 lawyers and represented himself at one point. He was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and related charges, according to NBC Miami.
Shandelle Maycock testified at trial that she was an acquaintance of Braddy, and that he became angry when he arrived at her home and she asked him to leave, according to NBC Miami.
During the trial, an expert testified that Quatisha Maycock was alive at the time Braddy dumped her in the water. The investigation revealed Braddy’s motive was that Shandelle Maycock had turned down his advances, leading him to kidnap, beat, and abandon her, and that he dumped Quatisha Maycock because he believed she could identify him, according to the Herald.
Braddy was sentenced to death in 2007, with 11 jurors believing he should receive the death penalty, and one disagreeing, the Miami New Times reported in 2017. On June 13, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court vacated his death sentence based on a new law at the time that stated jury verdicts needed to be unanimous in death penalty cases.
However, in 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law that juries can recommend the death penalty with an 8-4 vote, the Miami Herald reports. Braddy’s is the third such resentencing in Miami over the last few months.
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