MIAMI (AP) — An appeals court has upheld the life prison sentence imposed a second time on a Florida man convicted of killing his middle school classmate when both were just 14 years old.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday a Miami judge was correct in sentencing Michael Hernandez to life behind bars for the February 2004 stabbing death of Jaime Gough at Southwood Middle School. Hernandez got a second sentencing hearing in 2016 because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that juveniles could not get mandatory life sentences.
Testimony showed that the now 28-year-old Hernandez remained obsessed with violent imagery and music that glorified death and murder. Prosecutors say Hernandez wanted to become a serial killer and had a list of victims.
His sentence will be reviewed after 25 years.