Barahonas’ Trial-Child Death UPDATED

It was one year ago today that adoptee Nubia Docter Barahona was found in the back of Jorge’s pickup truck along I-95 in Florida. “The badly decomposing body of Nubia Barahona was in the back. Her twin brother, Victor, was passed out in the passenger seat, covered in severe chemical burns.”

The Barahonas’ next hearing is scheduled for February 24, 2012 and we will post all trial updates here.

Jorge and Carmen Barahona case: One year later, court documents detail disturbing abuse
[WPTV2/14/12 by Christian Mora]

We have extensive coverage of the case in numerous posts   here and here.

The original How Could You is here.

A summary of evidence can be found in this post here .

The latest on Victor can be found here .

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update: A good summary of the case was published by The Miami Herald Nubia Barahona: the life, death of an abused child [Diane Moscovitz 2/9/12]. For those unfamiliar with the details, this is a great place to start.

There was one piece of information that we had not seen before.

“Their mother, who had already given up four children…”

Nubia has four other half or full siblings. It is unclear if these were voluntary placements or if DCF was involved. If DCF was involved, then it is another failure to place siblings together.

Update 2: A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Nubia and Victor. The people who are filing on behalf of them can be seen in a screenshot of the NBC Miami video-“Survivor, by his next friend Carolyn Salisbury, Executive Director of Lawyers for Children America Florida Office, and Richard Milstein, as Personal Representativeof the Estate of victim, a deceased minor child.” The lawsuit is filed against Our Kids,DCF investigators and The Center for Child and Family Enrichment, Inc. A gag order on all parties has been placed by the judge.

Lawyers for Children America website explains that Carolyn “has been an attorney for foster children for 15 years, specializing in individual and impact advocacy for older foster youth. Since 2005, she worked with LFCA to direct the Miami Youth SHINE (Striving High for Independence and Empowerment) project, providing advocacy and leadership development training to empower youth to have their own voices heard in improving the foster care system. Among her impact cases, Carolyn argued before the Florida Supreme Court in a landmark children’s rights case that established a right to counsel and court hearings for foster youth facing involuntary commitment to psychiatric institutions. Carolyn formerly taught at the University of Miami School of Law’s Children & Youth Law Clinic for 10 years, training and supervising law students to represent foster children in trials and appeals, as well as teaching classes in Children and the Law, Public Interest Lawyering Skills and Ethics, and Legal Research and Writing. She is a cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review and a Dean’s Honor Scholar. ”

Who is Richard Milstein? Well, he was the GAL for Anna Nicole Smith’s baby for 3 weeks in 2007 and wanted $200,000 for his work. See this blog.

Barahona Twins File Lawsuit Against State, Contractors
[NBC Miami 2/24/12 by Willard Shepard]

Update 3: ” A Miami judge says he will not allow the parents charged with fatally beating their adoptive daughter to death to skip every court hearing.

Judge William Thomas noted the state is seeking the death penalty against Jorge and Carmen Barahona, saying he wants the couple present for substantive hearings. The couple has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

The Barahonas were not present Thursday and have skipped most hearings due to intense media coverage.

Nubia Barahona’s body was found partially decomposed in the back of Jorge’s truck in 2011. Her brother survived, but was badly burned after being doused with a toxic chemical.

Jorge Barahona is being held in West Palm Beach. The judge proposed possibly allowing Jorge to participate via phone.

A trial date has not been set.”

Judge: Barahonas should attend hearings

[The Miami Herald 5/10/12 by Associated Press]

Update 4: Finally there is an update as it has been over ONE YEAR since the last one.

“The West Miami-Dade man accused of torturing and murdering his adopted 10-year-old daughter claims evidence that will help him in court is being withheld.

Jorge Barahona, in a handwritten letter to a judge, says he wants access to audio cassettes he apparently made of himself interacting with his adopted children.

But, in his letter, he does not explain exactly why he believes the recordings would help his defense.

He and his wife, Carmen Barahona, are accused of murdering adopted daughter Nubia in February 2011, after months of torture and abuse. Her twin brother, Victor, was also starved, tortured and beaten, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors in Miami-Dade on Tuesday told Circuit Judge William Thomas that they did not have the cassettes and had not listened to them.

According to the Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office, the tapes have not been released to defense attorneys there, meaning they cannot yet be released publicly.

The case drew widespread headlines after police found Nubia’s chemical-soaked body in the back of Jorge Barahona’s pickup truck along Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach. Victor was severely injured, and Jorge Barahona was found passed out nearby.

Jorge and Carmen Barahona are facing the death penalty for Nubia’s murder in Miami-Dade, while Jorge is facing an attempted murder charge for allegedly trying to kill Victor in Palm Beach.

Nubia’s death cast a harsh spotlight on the Florida Department of Children and Families, which had received numerous abuse complaints against the Barahonas.

In his letter, which has now been placed into the court file, Barahona says two microcassettes seized by police from his truck shows “conversations that I had with my daughter Nubia and my son Victor.”

“We talk about what was going on at home and at school,” Barahona wrote.

He also claims two other cassettes exist, one of which depicts him calling a state-appointed guardian tasked with overseeing the adopted children, and the other “contains a typical morning getting ready for school.”

In his two-page letter, Barahona also complains about his court-appointed lawyer in Palm Beach County.”

Miami-Dade man accused of murdering adopted daughter complains to judge in letter

[The Miami Herald 5/21/13 by David Ovalle]

“Jorge Barahona wrote a letter asking a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge to appoint him a new attorney. He claims in the letter that his current attorney has withheld evidence in his case.”

 

See the letter here: Jorge Barahona handwritten letter to Judge May 2013

Jorge Barahona wants new attorney

[Local 10 5/21/13 by Benjamin Candea]

Update 5:Finally ! A trial date!

“Jorge Barahona, who’s accused of trying to kill his 10-year-old adopted son, Victor, is scheduled to stand trial Sept. 28,[2015]. Barahona’s pest control truck was found parked along the side of the road Feb. 14, 2011.

He was found unconscious on the ground and Victor was found badly burned after being drenched in acid.  The boy survived.

Rescuers also found the body of Victor’s sister, Nubia, partially decomposed in the back of the truck wrapped in a garbage bag.

Barahona and his wife, Carmen, are also facing first-degree murder charges for the death of Nubia.

That trial is scheduled to take place in Miami-Dade County.

According to prosecutors, after weeks of investigating, the couple was also accused of torturing and abusing the twins for years.

The case has played a major role in the way officials with the Florida Department of Children and Families handles child welfare cases.”

Man accused of trying to kill adopted son gets trail date[sic][Wpbf  2/28/15 by Angela Rozier]

Update 6: “The man facing a possible death penalty with his wife in a Miami case surrounding the murder of his daughter will not go to trial next month in a related West Palm Beach attempted murder case.

Jorge Barahona was set to stand trial Sept. 28 for the attempted murder of Victor Barahona, his 10-year-old adopted son who authorities discovered in Barahona’s pesticide truck on the side of Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach on Valentine’s Day four years ago. Victor was barely alive and doused with chemicals.

He survived, but investigators also found the body of Victor’s twin sister Nubia in the truck, wrapped in plastic. Victor later told them he heard his adoptive parents, Jorge and Carmen Barahona, beat the girl to death in a bathtub at the family’s Miami home, where Victor and another adopted daughter have said they were severely abused.

The case sparked intense scrutiny of Florida’s Department of Children and Families, and the agency eventually formed a task force to recommend changes to their practices.

The couple is facing first degree murder charges in a Miami case for which prosecutors there will seek the death penalty if a jury convicts them. Jorge Barahona was charged alone with the attempted murder of Victor in Palm Beach County.

Assistant Public Defender James Snowden and Assistant State Attorney Jill Richstone both agreed to delay Barahona’s scheduled September trial, according to an order that Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer signed Aug. 10. No new trial date has been set, according to the order.

The judge also cancelled a hearing scheduled in the case for Thursday and set the case for a Nov. 9 status check.

According to Miami-Dade court records, Barahona’s next hearing in his murder case is set for Aug. 27.”

Jorge Barahona Palm Beach County attempted murder trial delayed [Palm Beach Post 8/20/15 by Daphne Durat]

Update 7: Jorge goes to trial in July 2016!

“It’s been almost five years since Jorge Barahona allegedly used toxic chemicals in an attempt to kill his adopted son, Victor, in Palm Beach County. Now plans are on track for the Miami man’s high-profile trial this summer.

Without Barahona in the courtroom Tuesday, Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer set the case for jury selection to start July 25. The trial had been scheduled for last September until the attorneys requested more time to prepare.

The former pest exterminator, 58, and his wife, Carmen, remain charged with first-degree murder in Miami-Dade County in the death of Victor’s 10-year-old adopted twin sister, Nubia. Prosecutors there are seeking the death penalty against the couple, accused of torturing and abusing the siblings for years.

That case will follow the trial in Palm Beach County, where Jorge Barahona alone faces charges of attempted first-degree murder with a weapon and aggravated child abuse with a weapon, concerning Victor’s scary brush with death.

It was early on the morning of Feb. 14, 2011, when Barahona’s pest control truck was discovered along the side of Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach. Barahona was passed out on the ground, Victor was convulsing with chemical burns and Nubia’s decomposing body was wrapped in plastic in the vehicle, authorities said.

Barahona tragedy gets Palm Beach County trial date
In 2014, Barahona’s attorney tried unsuccessfully to get the case moved to Miami-Dade County, based on a argument that there is a lack of evidence the suspected crimes happened in Palm Beach County.

Assistant State Attorney Jill Richstone told the court there’s plenty of proof the boy was exposed to an acidic liquid after Barahona drove into Palm Beach County with him, sometime after midnight on Valentine’s Day.

Former Circuit Judge Sandra McSorley also denied a defense request to stop the jury from hearing all of Barahona’s statements to three police detectives, which he gave from his hospital bed on Feb. 15 after waiving his right to speak first with his attorney.
Jury may hear Jorge Barahona’s talk with cops
Assistant Public Defender James Snowden had argued Barahona’s interview should be excluded from the trial because his client was too groggy. Barahona had recently awoken from a coma, was medicated and unable to think clearly, his lawyer insisted.

But the prosecutor countered Barahona knew what he was doing, pointing to testimony from the detectives and a snippet of the recorded statement.

Barahona spoke of pouring gasoline on himself, and mentioned he was “thinking of committing suicide” and was “running away” from Miami, according to court records. He denied pouring any liquids on the boy.

During a previous hearing, witness Thomas Butler testified about his horrific discovery of Barahona’s Toyota. The Interstate 95 road ranger opened the door to the pickup and “a strong odor came out and hit me right in the face,” he said.

Butler said he took Victor from the truck’s front seat and carried the shivering, “incoherent” child back to the warmth of the ranger truck until city fire-rescue crews arrived.

“When I … picked him up to put him in my truck my hands started stinging, and like burning,” Butler testified. Victor was soaked, he added, “from his hair to his shorts.”

Reports of the suffering endured by Victor and his sister led to changes in Florida’s child-welfare system. Authorities found out the children’s teachers and others had reported suspected abuse and torture by their adoptive parents on numerous occasions, but those calls were not properly investigated.

Victor reportedly went to live with biological relatives in Texas to complete his physical recovery.

The Florida Department of Children and Families agreed to a $5 million settlement with the boy. He received $1.25 million, but the rest depends on the state Legislature.

The matter is among so-called claims bills that were filed for consideration during the current legislative session.”

Barahona attempted murder case set for Palm Beach County trial in July [Sun Sentinel 1/26/16 by Marc Freeman]

Update 8: Jorge Barahona gets his murder case moved to Miami-Dade County. Next Hearing is on August 4, 2016.

“The Miami man accused of trying to kill his adopted son in Palm Beach County will be able to fight the charges closer to home.

On Tuesday, a judge handling the case of Jorge Barahona signed an order moving the case to Miami-Dade County where he is also facing a murder charge for the death of his adopted daughter – Nubia Barahona – who was also adopted with her twin brother Victor.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, the 58-year old former pest exterminator said Monday he had no problem with the attempted murder trial being moved.

The move cancels the high-profile trial that was set for late July in West Palm Beach – a few miles away from where police made a startling discovery in 2011 that landed Barahona and his wife Carmen behind bars.

Officers discovered Victor and Nubia, both 10, in their adoptive father’s truck on the side of I-95. Nubia’s decomposing body was wrapped in plastic in the bed of the truck and Victor was barely conscious, convulsing with chemical burns.

Authorities said both children had been doused with toxic chemicals.

Barahona was found passed out on the ground on the side of the highway near the Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard exit.

Victor survived the incident.

The case involving the Barahona twins made national headlines – prompting the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to come under fire during the police investigation.

Nubia and Victor were adopted by the Barahonas in 2009 after living in their home since 2004. The kids, authorities discovered, had endured starvation, beatings, medical neglect and they had been tied and forced to stay in a bathtub.

Critics said the department failed to piece together warning signs from medical professionals and school officials that something was wrong in the Barahona home. A Blue Ribbon task force was charged with looking into DCF’s handling of the case. The agency blamed it on a system-wide failure, including poor judgment by child protective investigators, overwhelming caseload and missed opportunities at every turn. Since then the department has made various changes in their policy.

Jorge and Carmen Barahona are both charged with first-degree murder for the death of Nubia.

The move from West Palm Beach will mean that Jorge’s murder and attempted murder charges will be heard in Miami-Dade County. His next hearing is set for August 4th.”

Barahona Attempted Murder Case Moved To Miami-Dade County [CBS Miami 5/10/16]

Update 9: January 29, 2020

A look at the Miami-Dade County court records show that Jorge has had a lot of hearings.

He had status hearings on 9/13/16; 9/20/16;10/25/16;2/1/17;10/5/17;2/7/18;3/22/18;5/17/18;8/30/18; 11/1/18; 12/18/18; 1/23/19;2/21/19;9/19/19;10/8/19;11/5/19.

He has a trial hearing on 4/6/2020.

Update 10: ” Jorge Barahona, who faces the death penalty if convicted, appeared in Miami-Dade County court on Wednesday, as he begins to feel the weight of justice in the torture and death of his 10-year-old adopted daughter, Nubia.

Barahona has been behind bars for about nine years. Prosecutors have been working on the case since March 7, 2011. Barahona’s attorney told the judge on Wednesday he wants more time to prepare for trial.

Jorge Barahona’s wife, Carmen Barahona, recently pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges. The 69-year-old inmate’s sentencing will be deferred until she testifies against her 52-year-old husband, prosecutors said.

The judge denied Barahona’s attorney’s request for more time. His plea hearing is in March and his trial begins in April.

The horrific evidence detectives gathered included the little girl’s body, which had been soaked with chemicals. Deputies found Nubia dead in the back of Barahona’s truck on 2011 Valentine’s Day along Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County.

The Department of Children & Families placed Nubia and her twin brother, Victor, in the home as foster children and allowed the Barahona’s to adopt them. Victor survived the abuse, which investigators reported included being starved and caged.

Jorge Barahona is facing eight counts of child abuse, seven counts of child neglect with no great bodily harm, child neglect with great bodily harm, child abuse with great bodily harm, attempted first-degree murder, dead human body abuse and first-degree murder.”

Man, 52, in torture death of 10-year-old adopted daughter appears in court

[Local 10 2/26/2020 by Christina Vazquez and Andrea Torres]

A search on 03/18/2020 on the Miami-Dade court records says that a trial hearing is set for June 15, 2020.

Update 11: “For Florida taxpayers, footing the legal bills for accused murderers facing the death penalty is costly — especially in Miami-Dade County, where a small group of court-appointed lawyers and experts handle many of the cases before trial.

One of those lawyers is now under scrutiny after a Miami-Dade judge and a state commission found discrepancies in his billing for defending Jorge Barahona, the man accused of the notorious torture murder of his 10-year-old adopted daughter. The attorney is David Peckins, who has earned at least $1.3 million in fees for defending Barahona — and more than $3 million since 2010 on court-appointed cases, according to state records.

In the Barahona case, a Miami-Dade judge recently found that over the years, he billed 77 hours — to review the same 222 pages of medical examiner documents. In another murder case, Peckins over the years billed 172 hours to “review” 25 hours of jail calls, the same judge found.

Florida’s Justice Administrative Commission (JAC), the state agency that handles billing for court-appointed lawyers, then suspended its contract with Peckins, saying he kept inadequate records while routinely billing between 50 and 70 hours a week. The commission is also raising questions about his other job as a contracted Miami-Dade traffic court judge — he billed for work on murder cases on days he was on the bench ruling on traffic tickets.

“You also billed JAC for 18.5 hours on August 28, 2019, and had seven one hour hearing sessions scheduled as a hearing officer on the same date,” an agency lawyer, Christian Lake, wrote in a letter late last month. “JAC requests an explanation.”

Lawyer for accused Miami child killer Barahona probed for possibly overbilling taxpayers
[Miami Herald 11/10/2020 by David Ovalle]

We cannot find Jorge Barahona on the Miami-Dade court records.

Update 12: “Jorge Barahona, the Miami man accused of murdering his adopted daughter a decade ago, is getting a new lawyer — but a judge is still hoping to curb delays in the infamous and long-running case.

The judge on Thursday agreed to dismiss Barahona’s original lead lawyer because he is under police investigation for allegedly overbilling taxpayers for work related to a series of death-penalty cases. But Circuit Judge Nushin Sayfie declined to boot Barahona’s longtime second lawyer, saying a whole new legal team would delay a trial too long.

“This case is very old. It is very complicated. There has been tremendous time and energy and not to mention expense incurred by the state of Florida in your representation,” Sayfie told Barahona during Thursday’s virtual hearing. “Bringing in a new attorney now already is going to not only delay the process but it is also going to cost the state of Florida even more money.”

She added: “My goal is to get your case ready to go as soon as possible.”

The judge also pushed Barahona to consider engaging in talks for a plea deal with prosecutors, who have said they are open to negotiations. “I would very much like you to discuss this with your attorneys,” Sayfie said.

Any plea deal would likely entail life in prison in exchange for the waiving of the death penalty. Last year, Barahona’s wife, Carmen Barahona, pleaded guilty and accepted a life prison term as the state dropped execution as punishment.

[Adoptive]Mother pleads guilty to torture-murder of Nubia Barahona
Carmen Barahona pleaded guilty on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, to the torture and murder of adopted daughter Nubia Barahona in 2011. At her side are lawyers Kellie Peterson and Philip Reizenstein.

Jorge Barahona, 53, is accused or murdering 10-year-old Nubia in February 2011, after months of torturing her and her twin brother inside the family’s Westchester house. Police found Nubia’s chemical-soaked body in the back of Barahona’s pickup truck along Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County.

The case rocked Florida’s child welfare agency, which allowed the adoption of the twins and then overlooked repeated allegations of abuse.

After years of delays, Barahona’s trial was scheduled to start in April 2020, but was postponed when the COVID-19 crisis shuttered Miami-Dade’s criminal courthouse. Trials are still postponed in Miami-Dade.

The proceedings were thrown into uncertainty after longtime lead defense lawyer David Peckins — in a story first reported by the Herald in November — was accused of overbilling in Barahona and other cases.

In a letter to a state commission, Peckins denied the allegations and has not been charged as police investigate. But even the existence of a probe raised a conflict-of-interest quandary for Barahona. The same State Attorney’s Office could, in theory anyway, be tasked with prosecuting both men.

Sayfie on Thursday agreed to take Peckins off the case. She then elevated lawyer Stuart Adelstein, who has served alongside Peckins as the second attorney since the start of the case, to the lead role.

Adelstein is not under any investigation. But Barahona, appearing from jail in the Zoom court, objected, saying the two lawyers were “one in the same.”

“If I go with Mr. Adelstein, it’s like hanging myself,” Barahona said.

Sayfie disagreed. “I have no concerns about his ability to reasonably represent you,” she said.

Another veteran Miami death-penalty lawyer, David S. Markus, will be appointed to act as the second lawyer. Each defendant facing the death penalty in Florida is afforded two attorneys, one to handle the so-called “guilty” phase of a trial, and the second to handle a possible sentencing portion of a trial.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, when Barahona could reasonably go to trial remains unclear. The case has undergone other changes that are not expected to affect the timeline.

The case’s original lead prosecutor, Gail Levine, retired last month after 35 years trying some of Miami-Dade’s most notorious killers. Assistant State Attorney Michael Von Zamft, another senior prosecutor, now joins Lara Penn on the case.”
After a decade, accused Miami child killer gets new lawyer. Judge hopes trial won’t be delayed.
[Miami Herald 1/7/21 by David Ovalle]

Update 13:“Five South Florida inmates beat up an accused child killer as he slept because “of the nature of his pending charges,” authorities said in a police report.

All five have been charged with battery by a detainee for the March 1 attack on Jorge Barahona at the Miami-Dade County jail. Barahona, 53, suffered bruises on his face, a nosebleed and a small cut on his nose, the Miami Herald reported.[oh, poor baby….]

Barahona is accused of killing his adopted 10-year-old daughter Nubia Barahona in February 2011, after investigators said he tortured her and her twin brother Victor for months. The child’s body was found on Valentine’s Day 2011, soaked with chemicals in the back of her father’s truck along an interstate in Palm Beach County.

His wife, Carmen Barahona, 69, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges last year and is expected to testify against Barahona. He faces the death penalty if convicted at trial.

The case roiled the state Department of Children & Families because despite numerous complaints about abuse of the twins, little was done to protect them. Eventually, the state paid Victor Barahona a $5 million settlement.

The twins had originally been placed in the Barahona home under foster care, then were adopted by the couple.

Barahona’s trial was scheduled for last April, but was postponed by the coronavirus pandemic. It has yet to be rescheduled.He was granted a new defense attorney after it was revealed his previous lawyer is under investigation over discrepancies with his legal billing, the newspaper reported.

The jail attack on Barahona was not caught on surveillance video because the inmates tampered with the camera, according to a police report. The inmates charged in the attack ranged in age from 20 to 29.”

Police: Inmates attack Florida man accused in adopted daughter’s torture death

[Fox 6 3/9/21 by AP]

Update 14: A search of Miami-Dade Court files shows that Jorge will have a status hearing on 9/14/22. Another status hearing on 11/4/22.His trial hearing is set for 3/16/23.

Update 15: A search of Miami-Dade Court files shows that Jorge will have a  STATUS SET FOR 01/09/2023 at 09:30am.

Update 16:A search of Miami-Dade Court files shows that Jorge will have a status hearing on 4/21/23 at 9:30 am. His trial did not go forward on 3/16/23.

Update 17: A search of Miami-Dade Court files shows that Jorge will have a status hearing on 6/2/23 at 9:30 am.

Update 18: A Search of Miami-Dade Court files shows that Jorge will have a status hearing on 07/11/2023 AT 09:30.

Update 19:A search of Miami-Dade Court Files shows that Jorge will have a Evaluation of DEF FOR MNTL ILLNESS on 1/22/24.

Update 20: February 21, 2023 the court ruled that Jorge Barahona trial delayed until March 5, 2024

Update 21: “More than 13 years after a 10-year-old girl was killed and her twin brother was found badly abused and doused with toxic chemicals in South Florida, their adoptive father accused in the shocking crime has been found incompetent to stand trial.

Jorge Barahona, 56, was found incompetent to stand trial by a judge Friday morning at a brief hearing.

Judge Andrea Wolfson made the determination after he was evaluated by three doctors, and two found him incompetent.

“The court finds that if this case were to proceed to a competency hearing, that the doctors would testify consistent with their reports, at that time the court would utilize that testimony as evidence in order to make an independent finding of competency or incompetency for Mr. Barahona,” Wolfson said at the hearing. “The court in evaluating those reports is now prepared to adjudicate Mr. Barahona incompetent to proceed.”

Barahona will be transferred to a facility overseen by the Department of Children and Families and receive treatment. If his condition improves to the point where the judge finds he can assist his attorneys in his own defense, he would be returned to Miami-Dade County corrections and the criminal prosecution against him will resume.

It’s just the latest shocking development in a case that has been more than a decade in the making.

Jorge Barahona and his wife Carmen were both charged with first-degree murder in the death of 10-year-old Nubia, their adoptive daughter. Her body was found partially decomposed in the back of Jorge’s truck on Valentine’s Day 2011 on the side of a road in Palm Beach County.

“”I regret that the horrific case against Jorge Barahona is yet again delayed. The psychologists’ opinions that he cannot assist his new attorney in mounting his own legal defense is frustrating to all,” the statement read. “Hopefully, he will be found to be competent to stand trial soon, and this case will finally move forward providing justice for Nubia and her twin brother Victor.”

Jorge Barahona, charged in 2011 twin murder-abuse case, incompetent to stand trial
[NBC Miami 3/1/24 by Christian Colón, Tony Pipitone and Brian Hamacher ]