With his execution days away, convicted killer Chadwick Willacy chose to spend some of his last hours testifying — not for himself, but for a friend.
Willacy, on Florida’s death row since 1991 for murdering his Palm Bay neighbor, appeared via Zoom at a Miami-Dade Spencer hearing for Rafael Andres, 61, a handyman convicted of the brutal 2005 murder of La Carreta waitress Ivette Fariñas. Prosecutors say Andres stabbed her, beat her, strangled her with a rice cooker cord, and set her apartment on fire.
A Spencer hearing allows defense attorneys to argue against a jury’s death recommendation. In November 2025, a new jury voted 9–3 to recommend death after the Florida Supreme Court ordered a resentencing following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invalidated the state’s prior sentencing law.
Willacy described Andres as someone who defused fights in the prison yard. A second death row inmate, Williams Sweet, called him a man with a “beautiful spirit.” A third witness, 12-time felon Kenneth Williams, testified that Andres physically intervened to protect him during a 2013 jailhouse attack that left Williams jumping from a second-floor balcony to escape.
The hearing continued Tuesday. Judge Zachary James will ultimately decide whether to follow the jury’s recommendation.
