Aramis Ayala calls for new sentencing option for juvenile murderers

Makes call after struggling over case of 13-year-old charged in shooting death

Declaring that neither life in prison nor 36 months in juvenile detention are appropriate for young juvenile murderers, Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala called Tuesday for the Florida Legislature to come up with juvenile justice reforms.

Ayala posted a video on Twitter Tuesday afternoon saying the sentencing guidelines for juveniles convicted of first-degree murder are inadequate.

She is known both for her failed attempt in 2017 to abolish the death penalty in Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit and for implementing sweeping juvenile justice reform in Orange and Osceola counties.

She posted her message late Tuesday as a plea for legislative reform, after a Florida grand jury, at her request, indicted a 13-year-old boy as an adult for manslaughter with a weapon, grand theft of a firearm, and burglary of a conveyance.

She sought those indictments because the sentencing guidelines for first-degree murder required a mandatory sentence choice between life in an adult prison for the now young teenager if he was prosecuted on that charge as an adult and convicted, or 36 months in juvenile detention if he was prosecuted and convicted as a juvenile.

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