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st.Augustine, Florida – More than 680 days after 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey’s life ended in a brutal stabbing in the quiet Durbin Crossing neighborhood, her family faced her killer Wednesday in a St. Johns County courtroom. rice field.
Watch: Press play above to watch the sentencing hearing live (warning: testimony may contain graphic content).
Aiden Futch, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and admitted to stabbing a classmate more than 100 times in the early hours of Mother’s Day 2021, will stand out at a sentencing hearing this week before learning his fate on Friday. Facing the judge
Futch, 16, could spend the rest of his life in prison. Because he was a minor when the crime occurred, he was not eligible for the death penalty and no jury was involved in his sentencing hearing.
Wednesday’s second day of hearings will begin with statements regarding the impact on victims, including five members of Tristin’s family.
Related: Tristin Bailey: The murder that shocked St. John’s County
The hearing will be broadcast live on News4JAX.com and News4JAX+. Following the victim impact statement, the defense presents the case. Several young people are scheduled to testify on Wednesday, and News4JAX will not be able to show their faces, so their testimony will be audio-only.
Victim impact statements are expected to be emotional and laborious. Tuesday’s testimony ended in a similar fashion.
Statement on Impact on Emotional Victims of Day One
The statement about the impact on victims began with a tearful testimony from Tristin’s All-Star Cheerleading Coach, Breana Cherry, at the end of the day on Tuesday.
She refers to her athletes as “spirited kids” and said Tristin is special and will be missed every day.
“Our team lost a leader, a teammate lost a sister, and I lost a part of my heart that I can never get back,” she said.
Cherry said in court that she could not have prepared her for the day she learned of Bailey’s murder, or how she learned how to talk to Bailey’s other team.
“How do you tell an eight-year-old that it’s okay when the world around her tells you that she was brutally murdered by a classmate?” asked Cherry. “It’s our job to protect our children. Due to the nature of this crime, there is no way to hide these details from these babies.”
A family friend and mother of Tristin’s classmate also said that Tristin contacted him at school and had an impact on his son’s life.
“I was thinking of a cute story I wanted to share at her wedding someday. A family friend, Jennifer Van Delden, said, “That day, it didn’t just take Tristin’s life. It took a piece of everyone close to her.”
She has been diagnosed with depression, panic attacks, and anxiety since Tristin’s murder, and has suffered from it.
“When I close my eyes, I remember the pain she must have suffered that night, and I really want to take it away from her,” Van Derden said.
Tristin Bailey’s family sat in the courtroom gallery wearing aqua on Tuesday to hear disturbing testimony about the moments before and after her brutal death, as well as heartfelt comments from those who loved Tristin. tilted the
After an emotional day in court on Tuesday, Tristin’s family posted a message on their Facebook page.
Community impact
Prior to the sentencing hearing, hundreds of pages of victim impact statements were sent to Judge R. Lee Smith on behalf of Tristin’s family. They give us insight into just how emotionally traumatic Tristin’s death hit the entire St. Johns County community.
Smith rejected a motion by Fuch’s defense on Tuesday to keep the letter out of sentencing proceedings.
read: Letter to Judge Smith 1 | | Letter to Judge Smith 2 | | Letter to Judge Smith 3 | | Letter to Judge Smith 4
As they deal with the aftermath, the community gathers around “The Bailey 7,” with her family wrapping ribbons around the neighborhood, doing charity walks, and wearing water, Tristin’s favorite color. I wore it to several memorial services.
Recently, the family shared photos and new details about Tristin’s short life, hoping her legacy will be more than just how she died.
Related: ‘Bailey 7’ recalls Tristin Bailey’s life, legacy
Coroner, psychologist testify
The second half of Tuesday began with a graphic testimony from Volusia County Coroner Dr. James Fulcher, who detailed the more than 100 stab wounds Tristin suffered. Photos from her autopsy were shown to the judge and attorneys, but not to others in the courtroom.
Fulcher said he is fighting for his life.
Following the coroner, clinical psychologist Dr. Greg Pritchard testified about what he had learned about Futch by studying the case filings and reports. He was never allowed to make a direct assessment of his Fucci.
“He’s a really unique character in a bad way,” Pritchard testified. shows that.”
According to Pritchard, Futch told a friend in May 2021, “I expect to kill someone this month.” Said I could pretend and keep killing people.
“He was very descriptive to his peers, speaking in terms similar to what happened to Tristin Bailey. said. “But even if you didn’t have such a plan, he obviously did. It’s there. It’s in his head.”
The defense initially objected to Pritchard’s testimony, but Judge Smith overruled that objection. Futch’s lawyers said the psychologist did not directly evaluate Futch, and the documents he reviewed did not include any psychological testing.
The defense pointed out that Futch was depressed and that he and his associates may have exhibited risky behavior.
Pritchard said Futch’s behavior was insensitive and did not prove he could be rehabilitated.
“He hasn’t proven he can get better,” Pritchard said. “Look, it takes a long time to inflict 114 wounds. It’s not impulsive that it takes that long. Thoughts are running through his head as this unfolds. .”
Investigator testifies
The hearing began at 9:00 a.m. and initially began with testimony from detectives responding to Tristin’s search. Her body was found in the woods at the end of a cul-de-sac in the Durbin Her Crossing district. Futch was alive.
Crime scene technicians discovered the site where Tristin’s body was found and inside Futch’s home after Futch was identified as a suspect in the murder and investigators obtained a warrant to search his home. He testified that he had documented both.
Crime scene photos taken at Futch’s home showed what appeared to be blood on his shoes sandwiched between the dresser and the wall, and a T-shirt underneath the dresser. Both garments had what appeared to be blood stains.
An FDLE Crime Lab analyst testified about the DNA found on Futch’s clothing and other items, explaining that it was related to both Trystin and Futch. She said her DNA from a knife recovered by investigators matched Tristin.
A stain on the back of Futch’s shirt came back as being related to Futch, Tristin, and an unidentified three people. Another item returned as relating to Futch, Tristin, and her friend who was in the house with her before she was killed.
Analysts were unable to determine if the friend was the third person with DNA on the back of the shirt.
Futch’s attorneys focused on the fact that DNA other than Tristin and Futch was found.
No one else in the neighborhood was seen on camera with Tristin.
A St. Johns County sergeant testified about Snapchat photos and videos recovered from Futch’s account on the day he was arrested.
An undercover investigator testified about a video-recorded conversation between Futch and his parents after Futch was detained. Prosecutors played the recording from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office interview room. Futch told his parents nothing to worry about, he said.
When his parents told him Tristin was dead and he was the last person to be with her, he responded.
murder
Tristin is Last seen at home around midnight Mother’s Day. It’s unclear when she left the house, but a friend told investigators that Tristin and Futch were together at a friend’s house, and Futch told investigators that he and Tristin had been killed shortly after 1 a.m. He said he was walking north on the North Durbin Parkway.
Surveillance cameras caught the two walking together down a sidewalk toward the end of a dead end. Less than two hours later, Futch was back on the same camera and alone in the other direction.
Meanwhile, Futch viciously attacks Tristin with a knife, throwing the weapon into a nearby holding pond.
Diving team investigators later retrieved the knife from the pond and matched it to the knife that killed Trystin, connecting it to Fuch, who was arrested early the day after Trystin was killed.
Related: Hours after murder, Tristin Bailey’s killer tried to misdirect detectives
Her body was found in the woods at the end of a cul-de-sac less than half a mile (0.5 miles) from Futch’s house in the Durbin Crossing area, where Bailey also lived.
Futch had initially pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea last month, minutes before jury selection began at his trial.
Copyright 2023 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
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