Biography
Krishna Maharaj, also known as Kris Maharaj, was a Trinidad-born British businessman imprisoned in Florida in a disputed murder case. He was born on January 26, 1939 and arrested in Miami on October 16, 1986. He was convicted in 1987 and his death sentence was later replaced by life imprisonment. He maintained his innocence, and his lawyers and human rights organizations campaigned on his behalf. A 2020 court order denied his challenge and did not declare him innocent. He died in a Florida prison hospital on August 5, 2024. His first prison admission date remains unconfirmed; his death is not recorded as a release.
Krishna Maharaj, also known as Kris Maharaj, was a Trinidad-born British businessman imprisoned in Florida in a disputed murder case. He was born on January 26, 1939 and arrested in Miami on October 16, 1986. He was convicted in 1987 and his death sentence was later replaced by life imprisonment. He maintained his innocence, and his lawyers and human rights organizations campaigned on his behalf. A 2020 court order denied his challenge and did not declare him innocent. He died in a Florida prison hospital on August 5, 2024. His first prison admission date remains unconfirmed; his death is not recorded as a release.
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The November 30, 2020 order records his October 21, 1987 conviction on two murder counts, two kidnapping counts and unlawful firearm possession, and notes that his death sentence was later replaced by life imprisonment. Judge Jose E. Martinez denied habeas relief but granted a certificate of appealability on whether information concerning Jaime Vallejo Mejia and Baruch Vega could be attributed to the prosecution under Brady and, if so, whether it could have changed the outcome under the applicable federal standard. Permission to appeal was not an exoneration. 2020 order, pages 2, 5 and 22–23.
In a March 1999 friend-of-the-court brief, the Bar of England and Wales Human Rights Committee requested a new trial, raising judicial impartiality and prolonged death-row delay. It described the replacement of Judge Gross by Judge Solomon during the trial and quoted the December 1, 1987 death sentence. These were arguments supporting Maharaj’s appeal, rather than a judicial ruling granting relief. Amicus brief, physical pages 8–10 and 22.
On December 15, 2005, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed denial of his earlier federal habeas petition, rejecting the Brady, ineffective-assistance and consular-notification grounds within the six issues certified for appeal. It also declined to stay that appeal for a later state consular-rights proceeding. This was a separate decision from the 2020 habeas order. Original appellate opinion, pages 1–3 and 54.
