BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A jury will decide Monday if the mastermind behind the death of a former beauty queen should be sentenced to death.
The jury found Vahtiece Kirkman guilty on Friday in the 2006 murder of Darice Knowles.
Prosecutors said they plan to show the jury the cruelty of the crime as they seek the death penalty for Kirkman, 37. They said they might have been kinder if Kirkman shot Knowles, but instead she was bound, gagged and buried alive beneath cement.
Jurors will hear testimony about some of Kirkman's previous felony convictions, including the 2006 murder of Willie Parker, which prosecutors believe Knowles' knowledge of was the motive behind her death. Kirkman is already serving a life sentence for Parker's death.
Marvis Christian was injured in the same shooting that killed Parker and testified he remembers someone telling him to get on the ground while pointing a gun in his face.
"Life in prison is not enough," Assistant State Attorney Greg Konieczka said.
Channel 9 will continue to update this story as it develops.