ST. AUGUSTINE – A Florida teen faces a achievable daily life sentence just after he pleaded guilty Monday to fatally stabbing a 13-year-aged classmate 114 occasions and leaving her body in a wooded space in close proximity to their households in 2021.
The plea arrived as jury selection was scheduled to commence Monday early morning in the to start with-diploma murder demo of Aiden Fucci, who was 14 when Tristyn Bailey was killed, prosecutors claimed.
“I just want to say I plead guilty and I’m sorry for the Bailey spouse and children and my family members,” Fucci, 16, instructed the choose in St. Augustine on Monday morning.
The judge acknowledged the guilty plea and said Fucci’s sentencing would be scheduled at a later date. While he was billed as an adult, Florida law sets the sentencing for a juvenile convicted of initially-diploma murder among 40 many years and daily life in prison. An adult convicted of the identical criminal offense would facial area possibly a everyday living sentence or the dying penalty.
The girl’s spouse and children described her missing on Mother’s Day 2021, and her system was located in the woods subsequent a daylong lookup. Evidence, which include video clip surveillance, led investigators to Fucci. He was originally billed with second-diploma murder, but the charge was upgraded simply because of the severity of the crime.
R.J. Larizza, the state legal professional for Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit, mentioned throughout a information conference following Fucci’s arrest that Bailey was stabbed 114 moments. He claimed at minimum 49 of the wounds were to the fingers, arms and the head, and ended up defensive in mother nature.
In a assertion despatched Monday, St. Johns County Sheriff Robert Hardwick credited the do the job that investigators set into the circumstance.
“This was an all out agency effort,” the sheriff explained in a assertion. “The demo planning procedure is just as cumbersome as the investigation alone. The detectives have not stopped doing work this case given that the first call we acquired.”
Hardwick mentioned that investigators worked with the state attorney’s business office in searching for a close to the situation.
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