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| Teen Brothers Strike Plea in Fla. |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/25/2002 |
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Two boys accused of bludgeoning their father to death with a baseball bat pleaded guilty to reduced charges and got up to eight years in prison last week after a judge threw out their convictions and spared them a much harsher sentence. In strong, clear voices, Derek King, 14, and his brother, Alex, 13, admitted to third-degree murder as well as arson, for burning down the house around their father's body last year. Derek was sentenced to eight years in prison, Alex seven - well below the 12 1/2-year minimum specified under state guidelines. Circuit Judge Frank Bell read new sworn statements from both boys, similar to confessions they gave police but later recanted. 'Alex suggested that I kill dad,' Derek said in his statement. 'I murdered my dad with an aluminum baseball bat. I set the house on fire from my dad's bedroom.' Alex wrote that he talked with his brother about killing their father, Terry King, 40, so they could live with the family friend, Rick Chavis, a convicted child molester. 'Rick told me he loved me,' Alex wrote. 'Rick told me I was gay and only he understood me.' In his statement, Derek said Chavis had encouraged the boys to run away from home, which they did 10 days before the murder. They went to Chavis' home in Pensacola where he let them skip school, smoke marijuana and hid them when their father came by. The case drew widespread attention in part because prosecutors presented evidence at one trial that Chavis was the killer and told another jury the boys did it. A month ago, Bell tossed out the boys' second-degree murder convictions, saying the brothers' rights were violated by the 'unusual and bizarre' way prosecutors simultaneously presented two contradictory theories of the crime. He ordered both sides to try to resolve the case in mediation. The brothers were facing prison terms of 20 years to life before the convictions were thrown out. |
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