A Florida judge sentenced 16-year-old Aiden Fucci to life in prison on Friday for fatally stabbing his 13-year-old classmate Tristyn Bailey in a case that was especially shocking due to its brutality and the young age of both perpetrator and victim.
Fucci was just 14 when on Mother’s Day in 2021 he stabbed Bailey at least 114 times in the woods near where they both lived in north Florida, according to prosecutors.
“Heinous, atrocious, and cruel,” is how the judge, Lee R. Smith, described the crime, carried out in cold blood with no other reason than to feel what it’s like to commit murder.
“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,” Smith said. “This leads this court to the conclusion that there is only one appropriate sentence in this case.”
Fucci, who pleaded guilty just before his trial was set to start in February, was not eligible for the death penalty because of his young age at the time of the crime. His case may be reviewed in 25 years under Florida law, and his attorneys had sought a 40-year sentence.
The case has been described as one of the most difficult and shocking that St. Johns County has ever dealt with. The judge acknowledged the tremendous toll that Bailey’s slaying has had on her family and the community before imposing the life sentence.
During the sentencing hearing, members of Bailey’s family read emotional victim impact statements to the court. Her older sister, Alexis Bailey, dropped 114 aqua-colored stone hearts into a jar, one for each stab wound her sister suffered.
Another of the victim’s sisters, Brittney Bailey Russell, said family members suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder since the murder.
“Agony isn’t painful enough. Shattered to the core doesn’t crumble like how I feel. Infuriated doesn’t even come close to touching the amount of rage I find myself trapped in,” she said. “And let me tell you, justice is just a word for comfort. It doesn’t bring her back.”
The judge said that the crime committed by the defendant was not motivated by greed, passion, revenge, or any other discernible reason other than by an internal desire to kill, leading him to the conclusion that the only appropriate sentence is life in prison.
Investigators said that Fucci had told several friends he planned to kill someone, although it was not clear whether Bailey was his intended target from the beginning.
“There was a heightened level of premeditation in this case,” Smith said. “She suffered a painful, horrifying death from someone that she trusted.”
Before imposing the sentence, the judge also noted Fucci’s grandmother’s plea for mercy on Wednesday, saying that it showed the court that Fucci had a good, stable home environment.
“I know a punishment has to be paid for his actions,” his grandmother, Deborah Spiwak, wrote. “I love him as well as his mother and his siblings do.”
“Please don’t take him out of our lives forever,” she added.
Fucci and his parents each wrote letters to the judge apologizing for his actions and asking for mercy.
