A decide in a St. Johns County courtroom in Florida on Friday sentenced 16-year-old Aiden Fucci to life in jail for the first-degree homicide of 13-year-old cheerleader Tristyn Bailey, his good friend and classmate, in a case that drew nationwide consideration due to the brutality of the killing and the ages of the sufferer and perpetrator.

“She suffered a painful, horrifying loss of life from somebody that she trusted,” Decide R. Lee Smith mentioned.

Fucci pleaded responsible final month to first-degree homicide within the Mom’s Day 2021 stabbing loss of life of Tristyn

The sentence comes after two days of testimony earlier than Decide R. Lee Smith, together with hours of heartwrenching sufferer affect statements on Wednesday from Tristyn Bailey’s mother and father, grandmother, greatest good friend and siblings, together with her older sister, Alexis Bailey, who started her assertion by dropping right into a jar 114 aqua stone hearts — one for every of the stab wounds she endured through the assault by the hands of Fucci, then simply 14 years outdated.

One after the other they implored the decide to condemn Fucci to a life time period in jail.

Aiden Fucci, 16, is walked through the courtroom to a holding area prior to his sentencing Friday, March 24, 2023. Fucci was in the St. Johns County Courthouse for sentencing by Judge R. Lee Smith after he pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey.

Talking on behalf of Fucci, his grandmother, Deborah Spiwak, instructed the decide on Wednesday that she knew her grandson needed to be punished for his actions however she pleaded, “Please do not take him out of our lives perpetually … I do know there’s some good in Aiden.”

As a result of Fucci is a juvenile, an computerized life sentence was not an choice. As a substitute, the St. Johns County teen confronted a minimal of 40 years to life in jail. After serving 25 years of a life time period, the decide can evaluate the potential for a lighter sentence, in response to Florida legislation.

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