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

He was convicted of murdering his classmate, Tristyn Bailey, whose body was discovered in the woods during Mother’s Day weekend. At the time, he was 14 and 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.”