JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A final pre-trial hearing is set for Wednesday in the murder case of 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey.
Her accused killer, former classmate Aiden Fucci, is set to go to trial next week. Jury selection starts Monday.
Fucci faces a first-degree murder charge. He is being charged as an adult and has pleaded not guilt, but he is not facing the death penalty.
Only six people will be selected to serve on the jury, rather than 12. According to Florida law, 12 people should form a jury in all capital cases, but six people make up a jury for all other criminal cases. While Fucci is charged with first-degree murder, a motion argues that because he was 14 years old at the time of Bailey's death, it is not a capital case. Fucci cannot receive the death penalty if he is found guilty; he can be sentenced to life in prison.
Bailey, a cheerleader from the Durbin Crossing neighborhood in St. Johns County, was murdered Mother's Day weekend in 2021. Her autopsy report shows she was stabbed 114 times.
According to jail records, Fucci has been extorting and threatening other teen inmates at the Duval County Jail, where he is being housed, although his trial will take place in St. Johns County, and has been pepper sprayed by officers twice. Fucci's former cellmate claims Fucci said he was tougher than other teen inmates who'd shot their victims to death, bragging that he'd stabbed a girl face to face.
Jacksonville criminal defense attorney Janet Johnson, who is not affiliated with this case, says Fucci's alleged admission could be used against him in the trial.
"It's not a violation of any 5th amendment right," Johnson said. "It's not made by law enforcement, it wasn't made in response to questioning, it was a spontaneous statement that can absolutely be used against him."
Jail records report Fucci was pepper sprayed by officers last October when he refused to get rid of contraband books in his cell. A report from January last year states Fucci was extorting commissary from other inmates by threatening and intimidating them. Records also show Fucci was removed from general population after making repeated threats against other inmates and officers.
The final pre-trial hearing is set for 1:30 Wednesday afternoon in St. Johns County. First Coast News will be covering the trial gavel to gavel.