July 2017 Florida:U.S. Supreme Court rulings that juveniles can't be sentenced to life without parole has given a Florida man in prison for a 1995 murder of a suspected child molester a chance at freedom, WFTV in Orlando reports.
Mark Berrios was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for shooting Olen Hepler, 47, a suspected pedophile, when he was 14. He stole Hepler's truck and $800.
Margaret Loring told Action News Jax that her son met Hepler when he ran away from a juvenile program in Daytona Beach, becoming the victim of abuse. "My son grabbed the molester's gun and shot him," she said.
Loring said Hepler was a pedophile who preyed on troubled boys. She said her son felt there was no way out.
Evidence of Hepler’s pedophilia was not allowed during the murder trial.
Berrios will be resentenced Monday in Volusia County court.
In a recent Palm Beach County case, a judge resentenced a teen killer to life in prison without parole despite a request for mercy. Circuit Judge Charles Burton called the 1984 botched robbery in which a pawn shop worker was set on fire "one of the worst cases this court has seen in over 30 years in the criminal justice system." ..Source..
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