ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla.—A Florida teenager faces a possible life sentence after he pleaded guilty Monday to fatally stabbing a 13-year-old classmate 114 times and leaving her body in a wooded area near their homes in 2021.
The plea came as jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday morning in the first-degree murder trial of Aiden Fucci, who was 14 when Tristyn Bailey was killed, prosecutors said.
“I just want to say I plead guilty and I’m sorry for the Bailey family and my family,” Fucci, 16, told the judge in St. Augustine on Monday morning.
The judge accepted the guilty plea and said Fucci’s sentencing would be scheduled at a later date. Although he was charged as an adult, Florida law sets the sentencing for a juvenile convicted of first-degree murder between 40 years and life in prison. An adult convicted of the same crime would face either a life sentence or the death penalty….