USA - Florida. A jury has recommended the death penalty for Vahtiece Kirkman

A Brevard County jury has recommended 10-2 the death penalty for Vahtiece Kirkman, 37, who ordered a woman to be buried alive. It's the first death-penalty trial since the change in the Florida death penalty statute, stating that at least 10 members of a 12-member jury must agree on a death sentence for one to be handed down. The governor signed the statute into law in March. Kirkman was convicted of 1st-degree murder in the 2006 murder of Darice Knowles, 22. Knowles came to Brevard County from the Bahamas in 2006 to study at Brevard Community College. Her boyfriend, Christopher Pratt, was involved in dealing illegal drugs, and he, along with Kirkman, became convinced that the young woman was talking to police about them. Pratt pleaded guilty in 2010 and testified he was ordered to by Kirkman because he thought she had information about a previous murder they committed 17 days earlier. Kirkman will be sentenced on April 29.