Nation’s youngest convicted murder released from prison

A grand jury determined they should be charged as adults; rather than risk life in prison, they pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were handed 18-year sentences, of which they had to serve a mandatory 85%. Curtis and Catherine Jones were 12 and 13 years old, respectively, when they were convicted in the killing of their father’s girlfriend.

America’s youngest convicted murderers will be getting out of prison this week, according to ABC News. They planned to kill their father and his girlfriend, Sonya Nicole Speights, because they felt their cries for help were being ignored.

The siblings lost their freedom in 1999 – two years before the Xbox made its way to retail stores.

Child-welfare reports revealed the siblings had been the targets of sexual abuse by another male relative living in their home, according to Florida Today. Curtis is now an ordained minister. “Of course there are fears, mainly because there’s so much I must learn to function like a normal person”, Catherine wrote in a letter to Florida Today in 2014.

Catherine is scheduled to be released August 1 and Curtis is scheduled for release on July 28. But after shooting her. they panicked and ran off into woods near their Port St. John home, where they were apprehended the following morning.