BY DAVID OVALLE
dovalle@MiamiHerald.com
CARL JUSTE / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Ronald Salazar, 19, right, listens as the verdict of guilty is read for the rape and death of his sister.
Ronald Salazar was not insane when he raped, strangled and wielded a kitchen knife to fatally slit the throat of his little sister four years ago, Miami-Dade jurors decided Tuesday.
After two hours of deliberation, jurors on Tuesday evening found Salazar, 19, guilty of first-degree murder and sexual battery of his 11-year-old sister.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer sentenced Salazar to two consecutive life terms.
The bearded teen, sporting a blue suit and tie, did not flinch when the court clerk read the verdict. Family members were not present.
Lawyers for both sides presented their closing arguments earlier Tuesday. Prosecutor Reid Rubin started his presentation around noon and was followed by defense attorney Israel Encinosa.
Prosecutors say Salazar, now 19, raped and strangled Marina Estefani Salazar, then slit her throat with a kitchen knife. The motive, they said: Salazar hated her and their parents, who had come to Miami from El Salvador more than a decade earlier, leaving him with grandparents. He could not join them in South Florida until he was around 12.
Encinosa says Salazar killed his little sister because he had been driven to insanity after being abandoned by his parents. Encinosa points to an episode weeks before the girl's slaying, in which Salazar threatened to commit suicide.
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