A man convicted of killing two George Washington University students in the '80s was sentenced to death in Fairfax County, Va., Friday.
It has been a long process attaining a death sentence for 44-year-old Alfredo Prieto. He was on death row in California for the rape and murder of a teenager there when DNA evidence tied him to the rape and murder of Rachael Raver and the murder of her boyfriend, Warren Fulton. The couple were killed in a vacant lot in Reston in December of 1988. They were both 22 years old at the time.
Although he was already on death row, prosecutors in Fairfax County decided to bring him from California to Virginia to stand trail for the murders of Raver and Fulton in 2007. After six weeks of testimony, the jury found Prieto guilty of capital murder. However, during the sentencing phase, one of the jurors said he had felt pressured by other jurors, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial.
Prieto’s re-trial in 2008 again ended on a conviction and two death sentences, but then the case hit another snag. A Virginia Supreme Court judge ruled that the jury had been given improper verdict forms, forcing the sentencing back to the courtroom.
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These are not the only murders authorities believe Prieto committed. He has also been charged with the May 1988 murder of Veronica Jefferson in Arlington. Prosecutors have not taken that case to trial.
