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The move of Derek and Alex King, convicted in their father's bludgeoning death, angers the judge and prosecutor.
©Associated Press
December 17, 2002
PENSACOLA -- Two teenage brothers who pleaded guilty to killing their father have been transferred to juvenile detention from adult prison over objections from the judge and prosecutor, officials said Monday.
Alex and Derek King, 13 and 14, were turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice Friday at the request of state prison officials, said Bill Bankhead, department secretary. Alex's lawyer, James Stokes, said his client is at the Okeechobee Juvenile Offender Correctional Center and Derek is in the Omega Juvenile Program near Sarasota.
The decision was based on the boys' age and his department's more appropriate programs for juvenile offenders, Bankhead said in a statement. He warned that the brothers could be sent back to adult prison if they broke department rules.
Derek admitted he fatally beat their father, Terry King, with an aluminum baseball bat Nov. 26, 2001, and Alex said he had urged his brother to do it. The boys said they then set their house in nearby Cantonment on fire.
Bankhead's decision pleased the King boys' family members.
"At the beginning, when they were charged, this is what I was hoping for," said Greg King, the victim's brother. "I think it could be a good thing."
The boys pleaded guilty last month to arson and third-degree murder in a mediated settlement almost unheard of for a major crime. After sentencing, they were sent to the North Florida Reception Center in Lake Butler, an entry point for adult inmates.
Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer and Circuit Judge Frank Bell objected to the Department of Corrections' request for the move.
Bell last month sentenced Derek to eight years and Alex to seven, both with credit for a year of time served.
"This was a compromised plea and sentence and the parties should now be required to abide by what was presented in court," Bell wrote to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
He added that the boys admitted lying in court by blaming the murder on a family friend, Ricky Chavis, 41.
"It is a violent perversion of judgment and justice," Rimmer said, noting that the juvenile system's focus is rehabilitation rather than punishment. "Somebody who beats a sleeping man to death with a baseball bat should be punished."
Bankhead said he decided to accept the King boys because they would have been among the youngest inmates in adult prison, will be able to complete their sentences in juvenile detention and will receive education and treatment more appropriate to inmates their age.
Chavis and the King boys originally were tried on first-degree murder charges under conflicting theories of who wielded the bat. In Chavis' trial the boys testified he did, and in their case Rimmer argued it was Derek.
Chavis was acquitted. A separate jury convicted the boys of second-degree murder without a weapon. Jurors said they believed Chavis committed murder but that the boys let him in the house -- something neither side had argued.
Bell threw out their verdict and said he would order a new trial if the case couldn't be settled in mediation.
The boys' mother, Kelly Marino, of Lexington, Ky., was happy about their move to a juvenile facility, said Jayne Weintraub, a Miami lawyer representing Marino.
"She's thrilled and looking forward to relocating so she can visit them regularly," Weintraub said.
Chavis is in jail awaiting two more trials.