Trial of man in son’s attempted murder delayed
Jorge Barahona is accused of trying to kill his son Victor.
A 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, whom 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, who had been doused with chemicals, was barely alive.
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 Miami; prosecutors there are seeking the death penalty. 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 canceled a hearing scheduled in the case for Thursday and set the case for a Nov. 9 status check.
According to MiamiDade court records, Barahona’s next hearing in his murder case is set for next Thursday.