MIAMI (WSVN) - A Miami judge has thrown out a plea deal for the man accused of killing a South Florida mother and teacher after a raw and emotional hearing.
After seven years of waiting and over two dozen trial delays, the family of Camila Russell, a mother and former Miami-Dade teacher, is finally getting answers.
This comes after Ernest Roberts, the man accused of killing her in 2019, had accepted a plea deal to serve 30 years in prison.
Roberts was the assistant principal of Miami-Norland Senior High School, and also happened to be the godfather of Russell’s two daughters.
During the plea hearing, several family members read their emotional impact statements.
Those included her two daughters, who talked about the loss of their mother and how it has impacted them.
“Living without my mother has affected me in so many ways, especially mentally. I struggle to even wake up in the morning,” said her younger daughter as she broke down in tears. “I started getting bad grades, hearing voices, talking to her in my dreams, watching the surroundings and having fear of going out when I’m thinking I’m here too.”
According to prosecutors, Russell disappeared on May 15, 2019 after she was captured on surveillance video entering Roberts’ Miami Gardens home.
Later that day, he would be captured putting something in the back of her trunk and then taking off in her car.
Days later, her vehicle was discovered near County Line Road, and the day after that, her body was found in a canal in Miami Gardens.
Based on surveillance footage, blood found in his home and a handwritten note he had written about getting rid of her car, Roberts was arrested.
He was charged with first-degree murder, and at one point, prosecutors even tried to pursue the death penalty.
While Roberts initially pleaded not guilty, his attorneys and prosecutors proposed a plea deal that would have him serve 30 years in prison followed by five years of probation, with credit for the seven years he has already served.
Those seven years were full of delays for Russell’s family amid their agonizing quest for justice.
“To Ernest, you are not a man, you are an overgrown child with no dignity, no morals, and no moral compass. Your greed has been and will forever be your downfall, you will never know peace,” said her older daughter as he addressed the defendant directly. “After murdering my mother in cold blood, you had the audacity to ask to pick us up, as if whatever sinister intentions you had could somehow be carried out, but whatever plan you had was struck down. You then dared to stand at our doorstep and offer that weak, pitiful apology, only to remain so shamelessly silent that you couldn’t even offer an explanation for what you’ve done … but I understand why, because you’re a mouse of a man, the worst kind, you’re a weak monster hiding behind. — look at me — you are a weak monster hiding behind whatever scraps of courage you can convince yourself you possess. Look at me! Look at me! Look at what you’ve done!”
During the hearing, Roberts remained stone-faced and did not show any emotion, even as he heard the emotional testimony from Russell’s daughters.
The judge went on to throw out that plea deal after family members made it clear that they did not want it.
Russell’s loved ones said the plea deal was an easy way out for Roberts, so that he would not have to sit in a trial and have to be burdened by listening to all the evidence found against him.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.