Killer of Football Star Sean Taylor Denied Shorter Sentence

More than a decade after former University of Miami football star Sean Taylor was murdered during a botched burglary, his teenage killer was back in court Wednesday to insist he deserved a second chance at freedom.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy refused to knock any time off the sentence for Eric Rivera, who was 17 when he killed Taylor during a break-in of the Washington Redskins safety’s Palmetto Bay home in November 2007, earning Rivera a prison sentence of over 57 years.

Rivera’s defense lawyer had asked Murphy to shorten that lengthy term, saying he deserved leniency under changes to Florida’s juvenile-justice laws ordered by federal courts — and because several other defendants in the case got lesser sentences.

Rivera, now 28, will get another chance to ask a judge for possible release in four years.

For the full story, go to the Miami Herald.

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