Five years after two brothers were arrested for the brutal deadly stabbing of a business associate in Hialeah Gardens, one of them is paying the price for the killing.
Zadiel Rivero was convicted in August of second-degree murder in the February 2019 killing of 31-year-old Frank Canet. His brother and codefendant, Zandy de la Osa, was found not guilty of the charge and walked out of court a free man after five years behind bars.
Three months after that split jury verdict, de la Osa and Rivero were back in the same courtroom Wednesday but living two separate lives.
The Hurricane season is on. Our meteorologists are ready. Sign up for the NBC 6 Weather newsletter to get the latest forecast in your inbox.
This time, de la Osa was not wearing an orange jumpsuit and asked Judge Miguel M de la O for mercy on sentencing for his brother, who was facing up to life in prison, after video showed him repeatedly stabbing Canet to death.
"He's a good brother," said de la Osa. "He's a good father."
Rivero’s mother also begged the judge to give her son a low sentence and described him as marvelous.
Local
Judge de la O told Rivero he had read the more than 50 letters sent to the court supporting his character.
"I'm sure you are a loving father," said de la O. “But that video is hard to watch."
The judge ultimately sentenced Rivero to 40 years in prison with the 5 years credit already served.
"You don’t pull the knife out and start stabbing him until your brother has him pinned down. That is when you reach into your pocket. Pull out the knife. And then it was just pure butchery what you did to this man," the judge said.
The family did not want to comment after the sentencing.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Jordan, an attorney representing Rivero, told NBC6 the sentencing was still a long time.
"He could end up in a 30-year sentence but it’s still a really long time for an incident he felt he was justified in," Jordan said.
Rivero, who is 44 now, could be in his late 70s when he gets out of prison.
On the other hand, Rivero was also charged for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female, in an unrelated 2019 case.
Records show Rivero and his wife Yaisel Faya-Guinea sexually assaulted the teen in their home and then recorded the event with their home surveillance cameras.
Faya-Guinea pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to four years’ probation, according to records.
On Wednesday, state attorneys announced they will be dropping the assault case against Rivero.
