Jorge and Carmen Barahona pleaded not guilty Monday to charges they murdered and tortured their 10-year-old adopted daughter, as prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against the couple.
Monday’s arraignment marked the first time the West Miami-Dade couple appeared in court together.
A Miami-Dade grand jury last week indicted the two for first-degree murder, as well as a slew of aggravated child abuse and neglect charges.
The decomposing corpse of their adopted daughter, Nubia, was discovered in a black trash bag in the back of Jorge Barahona’s pickup truck on Feb. 14 alongside Interstate 95. Jorge Barahona was passed out nearby, and her twin-brother, Victor, was inside the truck severely burned from chemicals.
Police say the Barahonas inflicted hellish abuse on the adopted twins inside their West Miami-Dade home, trying their hand and feet together, confining them to a bathtub, beating, starving and torturing them. The case has also cast a harsh spotlight on the Department of Children and Families, which approved the adoption.
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