MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Within the next 72 hours, 60-year-old Brooks Bellay is expected to be released from Martin County Jail, after killing a young girl 45 years ago.
Bellay, who was 14 at the time, was convicted of murdering a 4-year-old girl in Vero Beach.
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“We are certainly disappointed, to say the least,” said Assistant State Attorney David Lustgarten.
“He's grateful for the opportunity to be free,” said Assistant Public Defender Usha Maharahj.
Back in 1979, Bellay plead guilty of killing a 4-year-old girl named Angel, who was found naked and beaten to death in the woods. The 4-year-old would've been 43 years old today.
On Friday, a judge granted his release under new Florida sentencing guidelines for minors.
The 2012 Supreme Court decision of Miller v. Alabama held that life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional on the basis of cruel and unusual punishment.
Teenage killer re-sentenced after decades
“I think that the justice system has some flaws to say the least,” Lustgarten said.
He said he disagrees with the resentencing.
"Finality and repose in a criminal case is, I think, paramount, and the courts dragging victims through it all for 40 plus years, it's really absurd,” Lustgarten lamented.
Maharahj represented Bellay and successfully argued that he has been rehabilitated.
“In prison, he has not had a singled DR (disciplinary referral), I think, in almost three decades, if I'm not mistaken,” said Maharahj. “His conduct was exemplary.”
Region Indian River County
Teen killer to be resentenced four decades later
Lustgarten said he has been in contact with the family.
“To say the family, 46 years later, is handling this with grace is an understatement,” he said. “But they are also, as it can be, perfectly understandable, they're upset.”
“We are very sorry,” said Maharahj. “Brooks is also very, very, very sorry for what happened, and it's something that will live with him for always.”
Once released, Bellay will be sent to a structured reentry program in Jacksonville, with one year of GPS monitoring and 15 years of probation.
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Region Martin County
