Thomas Stein asked the judge for “one thing” during a statement at his July 10 sentencing
Credit: GoFundMe; Gulf Coast News
NEED TO KNOW
- An 18-year-old was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a 15-year-old girl
- Thomas Stein asked the judge to hug his family during his sentencing on July 10, but his request was denied
- He shot and killed Kayla Rincon-Miller in March 2024 after pulling up in a car on the teen and her two friends
Thomas Stein was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a Florida teenager, Kayla Rincon-Miller. During the sentencing, a judge denied his request to give his family one last hug before heading behind bars.
Stein, 18, was sentenced to life in prison on one felony count of first-degree murder tied to the shooting death of 15-year-old Rincon-Miller in March 2024, the State Attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida announced in a news release on Friday, July 10.
He was also sentenced to an additional 45 years — 15 years each for three counts of attempted robbery with a firearm, to run consecutively. Stein was convicted of the charges in May, following a week-long jury trial.
Rincon-Miller was shot and killed after she was randomly targeted by Stein and his friend, Christopher Horne Jr., who pulled up beside the teen and two others in a silver Nissan Pathfinder as they headed from a movie theater to a McDonald’s in Cape Coral, Fla., in March 2024.
Stein’s defense had asked that he be sentenced to only 25 years in prison, in line with how Horne — who testified against Stein as part of a plea deal — was sentenced in May, per Court TV.
While giving a statement on July 10, Stein asked not for a certain sentence, but to hug his family, according to Court TV.
“If I could just ask you one thing, if before I walk out of the courtroom, if I could give my family a hug, if you’d allow that?” the 18-year-old asked Judge Nick Thompson, per the outlet.
However, the judge was quick to shut down the convicted killer’s request, stating, “I can’t grant that request in here. You can say goodbye, but you can’t have any physical contact.”
Stein maintained during his trial that he was present at the time of Rincon-Miller’s death, but did not pull the trigger.
“I didn’t know that robbery was going to occur, but it was my reaction in fleeing that ultimately played a major role in assisting the perpetrators,” he said at his July 10 sentencing, per Court TV. “I know that it wasn’t my intentions, but the truth is it doesn’t change the result. It doesn’t change the fact that there was a life taken and innocent people were forever traumatized because of that.”
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“That day I made a terrible decision,” Stein continued. “The decision to get behind the wheel was a total act of selfishness and something I regret and I’m ashamed of every day.”
The teenager ultimately spoke with his family briefly before he exited the courtroom, Court TV reported.
Credit: GoFundMe
Stein and Horne were driving around in an SUV his mother had rented, looking for cars to burglarize, when they saw the trio of girls, including Rincon-Miller, walking and decided to rob them in 2024, according to the state attorney.
Stein drove by the girls twice and flashed the high beams into their faces before stopping. Moments later, a gun went off at close range.
Stein and Horne fled as Rincon-Miller’s friends tried to save her life. She died shortly after in a hospital.
Rincon-Miller’s friends, Louann Dejaie and Emma Wright, both spoke in court on July 10, per Court TV. “I have been bullied and discouraged,” Wright said. “People tried to blame me and my friend Dejaie for this act of violence.”
“I feel like I’m trapped in a coma that I can’t wake up from,” Dejaie added. “Like I’m suffocating, but somehow still expected to keep on living. Losing Kayla changed every part of my life.”
Read the full article here
