Circle K Murder In Greenacres 2010

In January 2012, Robert Alvarez and Darnell Razz, 22, were convicted and sentenced to consecutive life sentences for the deaths of Ralston Muller, 39, and Michael Dean Bennett, 48 for robbery and homicide that occurred at the Circle K on 57th and 10th in Greenacres in 2010.

Alvarez’s appeal was resolved first, when in November 2013, the 4th District Court of Appeal tossed his convictions over an error in allowing a portion of a detective’s testimony at the trial.

Alvarez’s retrial ended in a hung jury, and the appellate court ordered a new trial for Razz because of the same mistakes.

Prosecutors Cheryl Caracuzzo and Andrew Slater stated during
the state’s presentation at the first trial, a handgun-toting Alvarez entered the Circle K first while Razz, holding an assault rifle, guarded the store’s front entrance.

When Alvarez hit the employee who was emptying the cash drawer, his handgun discharged. At that point, the prosecutors said, Razz shot and klled both employees. Both assailants were gone in under a minute.

They made off with $71

But Alvarez’s attorney, Robert Gershman, and Razz’s attorney, Gerald Salerno, claimed there was a lack of concrete evidence linking either man to the slayings.

Ruling on both the Alvarez and Razz appeals, the appellate court determined it was a mistake during their 2012 trial to let a detective provide racial descriptions of the masked perpetrators while testifying about a surveillance video of the crime.

Jurors had watched the video, which shows two people entering the store dressed in black clothing and wearing masks and gloves. The appellate court opinion called the video “highly inconclusive and indiscernible.”

Razz was sentenced in January 2014 to 60 years in prison for separate, attempted second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm convictions from another 2010 case.

The Judge firmly rejected an argument from Razz’s attorney that a 40-year maximum term was in order because the crimes happened when he was 17. The defense insisted he still can be rehabilitated and re-enter society.

“Rehabilitation for Mr. Razz?” Cox wrote in an order passed out to the lawyers. “There is no possibility of rehabilitating.

Alvarez had 11 other criminal convictions, including battery offenses committed while in custody, records show. In 2013, he was sentenced to prison terms of five and seven years, to run concurrently.

Gershman received permission from Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes to apply makeup to Alvarez’s face before he appears before the jury. Alvarez got the tattoos after his 2012 convictions, and had them covered for his first retrial to avoid being judged on his appearance and not the facts of the case.

“He doesn’t want to come across looking like that,” Lisa Alvarez said of her son, adding he regrets getting the tattoos from a fellow inmate.

The jury found Alverez guilty once again and sentenced to life behind bars.