Death sentence for Hialeah woman's rape and murder could be overturned – NBC 6 South Florida

A death penalty recommendation could soon be thrown out, just a month after a jury returned that verdict for a man it also convicted in 2016 of raping and killing a woman at a Hialeah hotel.

In an 8-4 vote, jurors recommended that a judge sentence Ronald Lopez Andrade to death for the murder of 30-year-old Yaimi Guevara Machado.

It's been eight years since the woman's body was found completely naked and covered in blood on a motel lawn in Hialeah.

Hours after the recommendation, one of the jurors emailed the court claiming there had been several instances of juror misconduct during deliberations.

Among the allegations, the lawyers' biggest concern was: “The jury had a conversation in which they drew a parallel between the death penalty in this case and 'killing invasive species.'

On Friday, Judge Michelle Delancy ordered all jurors to take the stand under oath and testify individually about the conversations they had during closed-door deliberations.

“As a wildlife expert, I had mentioned in this particular conversation that I was very familiar with the concept of euthanasia because I support and work with situations where we are primarily euthanizing species that come from other places and are not good for us Ecosystem here,” one juror said while trying to clarify the invasive species comment that his colleague viewed as xenophobic.

Eight years after a woman's body was found completely naked and covered in blood on a Hialeah motel lawn, a Miami-Dade jury recommended that her killer also die. NBC6's Jamie Guirola reports

Judge Delancy then asked the jury whether the comment had anything to do with Lopez Andrade being a Honduran citizen.

“It had nothing to do with that,” the juror replied.

According to another allegation, the woman consulted her husband before reaching a verdict. That woman told Judge Delancy that she had complied with the orders and denied speaking to anyone about the case before reaching a verdict.

With the cloud of allegations hanging over the jury, Miami-Dade prosecutors believed a judge should allow a new criminal trial with a new set of jurors.

However, defense attorneys may want to start from scratch and request a new trial in which new jurors will determine whether Lopez Andrade was guilty of murder and, depending on the outcome, move forward with a penalty phase.

No decision has been made. The next court hearing will take place later this month.