A Florida teenager killed his classmate to know what it feels like to be a murderer. Now, he will spend over four decades behind bars.
St. Johns County Circuit Judge Lee Smith sentenced Aiden Fucci, 16, to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the brutal stabbing death of 13-year-old cheerleader Tristyn Bailey. Though Fucci, at the time of the homicide, was 14 years old, he was set to be tried as an adult by a jury. Instead, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
“I would submit this case was the most difficult and shocking that this county has dealt with,” said Smith, reported USA Today.
On May 9, 2021, Bailey’s body was found in the woods of St. Johns County in northeastern Florida after her family filed a missing person’s report the same day. During the investigation, witnesses told authorities Fucci told some of his friends he would like to take someone into the woods and killing them after watching them bleed to death. Fucci and Bailey were last seen leaving a friend’s house together and walking together around 1 am, several hours before her body was found.
“This was not done out of greed, it was not done in retaliation, retribution, or revenge, it was not a crime of passion, it was not a crime that was committed because he felt rejected by her. It was not done in a fit of uncontrollable anger. There was no reason. There was no purpose. It was done for no other reason than to satisfy this defendant’s internal desire to feel what it was like to kill someone,” said Smith during the sentencing hearing, according to CNN.
According to prosecutors, Fucci stabbed the victim 114 times before dumping her body in the woods. An autopsy report showed Bailey had 49 defensive stab wounds on her head, hands, and arms.
On behalf of Fucci’s grandmother, Deborah Spiwak pleaded with the court to have leniency on the defendant while stipulating the defendant needed to be punished for the heinous crime he committed. Then she told the judge, Fucci still had some good in him.
In an emotional courtroom, Bailey’s father, Forrest Bailey, shared how his family was extremely proud of his daughter while she was alive. In addition, he asked for people to remain kind to the defendant's family and thanked the judge and prosecutors for the sentence handed down.
Due to Fucci being a juvenile when he committed the crime, he was not subject to an automatic life sentence. However, he will serve a minimum of 40 years in prison before being considered for parole under Florida’s law.
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