USA - Florida. Judge John Marshall Kest sentenced Bessman Okafor to death.

Judge John Marshall Kest upheld the jury's 11–1 recommendation that Bessman Okafor be sentenced to death. Okafor, 30, Black, was convicted of 1st-degree murder in the death of Alex Zaldivar, a 19-year-old man who was scheduled to testify against him in court the next day. An Orange County jury recommended capital punishment on Sept. 15. Prosecutors said Okafor broke into the home and shot Zaldivar and his two roommates (siblings Brienna and Remington Campos) in the head to stop them from testifying against him in court the next day in a previous home invasion in May 2012. Zaldivar died instantly. The shootings delayed the trial, and Okafor and an accomplice, Nolan Bernard, were found guilty in 2012 of burglary, assault with firearm, robbery with a firearm and aggravated assault. Both were given five concurrent life sentences.