Hundreds of people serving life in prison for crimes they committed as teenagers could get a chance at a reduced sentence, after a Florida Supreme Court ruling this month.
The court considered the case of Rebecca Falcon, who was convicted in the shooting death of a Panama City Beach cab driver when she was 15.
Rebecca Falcon’s lawyers say she was abused as a child and started hanging out with the wrong crowd as a teenager in Panama City. One day in 1997, they say Falcon’s boyfriend pushed her to go along with his plan to rob a cab driver. A gun went off in the process, killing 25-year old Richard Phillips.
His daughter, Elizabeth Phillips, says her memories of her dad are hazy. But that November’s events have had a clear effect on her. It’s especially tough, she says, on what would be her dad’s birthday.
"I break down. I just want to curl up in a ball and just be left alone for that day," Phillips said.
Phillips says Falcon, the girl convicted of her father’s murder, has written letters apologizing. But she’s not sure she forgives her. Now, Falcon’s lawyers are preparing for her new sentencing hearing, where a judge will need to take into account factors including her emotional maturity at the time of the crime. Florida’s mandatory life sentences for teens convicted of murder are no longer constitutional. Phillips says she has mixed feelings about the possibility Rebecca Falcon could go free.
"She did take someone’s life away. He didn’t deserve to have his life taken," she said. "And another half of me says, 'She’s been in there since she was 15. She deserves a second chance.'"
Lawyers for juveniles convicted of murder and the state are expected to become quite busy. As many as 300 cases like Rebecca’s, some of them several decades old, are eligible for new sentencing.
