ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Aiden Fucci, now 18-years-old, lost his appeal on Saturday regarding the conviction and life sentence for killing a fellow teenager in 2021.

He was found guilty of murdering classmate, Tristyn Bailey, and leaving her body in the woods on Mother’s Day weekend. He was 14 at the time. She was 13. 

This spring, an appellate court upheld the lower court’s decision, finding Fucci “lured the victim to a secluded place in the woods,” “stabbed her over one hundred times, and inflicted forty-nine (49) defensive wounds.”

In 2023, the jury found Fucci guilty of killing the victim “simply out of his desire to kill somebody and watch them die.”

Fucci was sentenced to life imprisonment and would be eligible for review in 25 years.

The appellate court, in April, issued an order, affirming the conviction and sentence from 2023. However, it disagreed with the amount of the Public Defender fee. 

The appellate court stated that law calls for “a cost of $50 as a public defender application fee. Here, the trial court erroneously imposed a $100 fee. Accordingly, we reverse and remand solely for the trial court to enter an amended judgment and sentence imposing a $50 public defender application fee.”