Wayne Treacy sentencing set for Oct. 12

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Wayne Treacy, the Pompano Beach teenager convicted in July of attempted murder in the beating of Josie Lou Ratley, will learn his sentence on Oct. 12, four days after he turns 18, a Broward judge said Wednesday.

Treacy was accused of deliberately trying to kill Ratley, then 15, over an insensitive text message on March 17, 2010, by slamming her to the ground and stomping on her head while wearing steel-toe boots. Ratley survived with irreversible brain damage.

His defense claimed Treacy was legally insane at the time of the attack, suffering from a dissociative episode fueled by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after seeing his brother, dead, hanging from a tree in Oct. 2009. While Treacy's mental illness was not in dispute, jurors rejected the claim of legal insanity because he knew the consequences of his actions.

He faces a maximum of 50 years in prison.