Lionel Alexander Tate is the youngest American citizen ever sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, though this sentence was eventually overturned. In January 2001, when Tate was 13, he was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1999 battering death of six-year-old Tiffany Eunick in Broward County, Florida imitating professional wrestling moves.
Bobby Kent was a 20-year-old American man who was murdered by seven people, including his best friend, Martin Joseph "Marty" Puccio Jr in Weston, Florida. The murder was adapted into the 2001 film Bully.
William LaFortune is an American politician who served as the 37th Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma from 2002 to 2006 and is currently a district judge in Tulsa County.
In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for parole after a minimum term set by the judge. In exceptional cases a judge may impose a "whole life order", meaning that the offender is never considered for parole, although they may still be released on compassionate grounds at the discretion of the home secretary. Whole life orders are usually imposed for aggravated murder, and can only be imposed where the offender was at least 21 years old at the time of the offence being committed.
The Lords of Chaos was a self-styled teen militia formed on April 13, 1996, in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. It was led by Kevin Donald Foster. The group gained notoriety for a crime spree that ended on April 30, 1996, with the murder of one of the boys' teachers, Mark Schwebes, the Riverdale High School's band director.
On May 22, 1995, 16-year-old Jimmy Farris, the son of a Los Angeles Police Department officer, was stabbed to death. Farris and his friend, Michael McLoren, were next to a clubhouse-type fort in McLoren's backyard. Four acquaintances of Farris and McLoren jumped the chainlink fence and approached the fort. There was a fight inside the fort. Farris and McLoren went into the house, bleeding from stab wounds, while the other four climbed back over the fence and left. Farris died before paramedics arrived. McLoren was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center.
Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips is an American man who was convicted of murder as a child. In November 1998, when he was 14 years old, Phillips killed Madelyn Rae Clifton, his 8-year-old friend and neighbor. The following year, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Phillips stated that he killed Clifton to stop her from crying after she was accidentally struck with a baseball while they were playing, and that he feared punishment from his abusive father. Although elements of Phillips's story are disputed, officials who were involved in his prosecution have subsequently expressed contrition over the severity of his sentence. In 2017, Phillips was re-sentenced to life in prison on appeal, but he has been eligible for re-sentencing as of 2023.
Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD) is a California state prison in unincorporated southern San Diego County, California, near San Diego. It is operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The facility sits on 780 acres (320 ha). It is the only state prison in San Diego County. It is named after Richard J. Donovan.
Joel T. Lazarus was a Florida prosecutor and later a circuit judge.
On November 23, 2012, Jordan Davis, a black American 17-year-old boy, was murdered at a Gate Petroleum gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, by Michael David Dunn, a white 45-year-old software developer, following an argument over loud music played by Davis and his three friends, in what was believed to be a racially motivated shooting.
Martin Correctional Institution is a state prison for adult men located in Indiantown, Martin County, Florida, operated by the Florida Department of Corrections.
Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion gained a cult following among his young fan base during his short career with his depression- and alienation-themed music. Critics and fans often credit him for his musical versatility, with his music exploring emo, trap, trap metal, nu metal, indie rock, lo-fi, hip hop, R&B, and punk rock. He was considered to be a leading figure in the establishment of the emo rap and SoundCloud rap genres, which garnered mainstream attention during the mid-to-late 2010s.
On June 18, 2018, 20-year-old American rapper and singer-songwriter Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, known professionally as XXXTentacion, was murdered in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Onfroy was fatally shot and killed by 22-year-old Michael Boatwright after being robbed in his car by Boatwright and his accomplices Trayvon Newsome, Dedrick Williams, and Robert Allen outside RIVA Motorsports, an upscale seller of motorcycles and watercraft in Deerfield Beach. Authorities charged the four men with first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
Jamell Maurice Demons, known professionally as YNW Melly, is an American rapper and singer. He rose to fame in 2018 following the release of his single "Murder on My Mind," a trap song that explores homicidal ideation. As his mainstream breakthrough, its release garnered him further attention after he was charged with the double-murder of two fellow rappers in the "YNW" collective the following year, resulting in an ongoing legal battle and incarceration. Prior, "Murder on My Mind" peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and led him to sign with 300 Entertainment to issue the song as a single for his debut commercial mixtape I Am You (2018), which was met with positive critical reception along with its follow-up, We All Shine (2019).
One-year-old Antonio Santiago was murdered on March 21, 2013, during an attempted robbery in Brunswick, Georgia, United States. As Santiago and his mother, Sherry West, were returning home from the post office, they were confronted by two youths, 15-year-old Dominique Lang and 17-year-old De'Marquise Elkins. Elkins, who had previously shot another victim he tried to rob, pointed a gun at West and demanded money. When she did not comply he fired two .22-caliber bullets, one of which grazed her head, and the other of which went through her leg. He then shot Santiago in the face, killing him. The murder received national as well as international attention due to the victim's young age.
Paul Brumfitt is an English criminal convicted of killing three people in the United Kingdom and Denmark. In 1980 he was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and sentenced to three life sentences. He was released in 1994, only to kill yet again in 1999 and be returned to prison.
Bruce Edward Schroeder is a retired American lawyer and jurist from Kenosha County, Wisconsin. He served forty years as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Kenosha County (1983–2023). At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving state court judge in Wisconsin. He was previously district attorney of Kenosha County. He came to national attention in 2021 due to his role as the presiding judge for the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. He was also judge in the first trial of Mark Jensen in the "letter from the grave" murder case (2002–2008).
The State of Florida v. Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome, and Dedrick Williams was an American criminal case in Florida's 17th Judicial Circuit in which the three were charged with robbing and murdering Jahseh Onfroy, the rapper and singer-songwriter who performed as XXXTentacion. They were convicted on all charges and were given the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Elizabeth Anne Scherer is an American lawyer who served as a judge in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida from 2012 until her resignation in 2023.
State of Florida v. Jamell Demons is an ongoing American criminal case in Florida's 17th Judicial Circuit in which rapper Jamell Demons, commonly known by his stage name YNW Melly, was accused of murdering his two friends, Anthony D'Andre Williams and Christopher Jermaine Thomas Jr. in October 2018. If convicted, he faces either life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. If Demons is convicted, he will be one of the first defendants to be sentenced under Governor Ron DeSantis’ new non-unanimous death sentence law, in which the jury will only need to have at least eight out of twelve jurors agree to recommend the death penalty rather than it being unanimous.
