Testimony ends for day in trial of Oviedo man who murdered former girlfriend, UCF student

Rene Stutzman | Sentinel Staff Writer
4:38 PM EDT, September 22, 2008
Testimony had concluded for the day in Sanford at the trial of a 22-year-old Oviedo man who murdered his former girlfriend and a University of Central Florida student last year.

Andrew Allred pleaded guilty in April to those slayings.

The penalty phase of his trial began today even though he refused to go into the courtroom. That didn't stop the judge and attorneys. They began picking a panel anyway while Allred sat in a holding cell at Seminole's Criminal Justice Center and watched the proceedings by video.

Testimony is to continue in the morning.

Jurors this week will decide one issue – whether Allred should be given the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole.

Allred shot Tiffany Barwick, 19, and her friend Michael Ruschak, 22, on Sept, 24, 2007, at Ruschak's home in Oviedo, where several friends had gathered.

Allred crashed his car into the house then shot his way inside. He wounded a third person.

Allred and Barwick had broken up, but he had been cyberstalking Barwick, according to police records. The day of the slayings, Barwick and Ruschak had asked the Seminole County Sheriff's Office to arrest Allred, but that didn't happen.