Death sentence upheld
The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of convicted killer Jesse Guardado, who killed an elderly DeFuniak Springs woman in 2004.
The court issued an opinion Thursday, calling Guardado’s sentence for the murder of 75-year-old Jackie Malone “proportional to other murder cases involving similar factual circumstances …”
In October 2005, Walton County Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells sentenced Guardado to death for beating and stabbing Malone, a prominent local businesswoman, to death in her DeFuniak Springs home in September 2004. Guardado beat Malone with a metal rod. When she didn’t die, he stabbed her with a kitchen knife and slashed her throat. A stab wound to the heart was the fatal blow.
Guardado pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after confessing to police. He told them that he went to Malone’s house to get money to buy crack cocaine.