The 17-year-old who admittedly killed his grandmother spoke at his sentencing hearing on Wednesday. Logan Mott said victim Kristina French “carried herself with the grace and poise of a queen.” He was effusive with praise of the woman whose life he ended.
“She was my friend,” he said in court on Jacksonville, Florida. “A mentor. My refuge.”
Mott shot her in the head, stabbed her, and buried her in a shallow grave in the backyard of his Florida home before being apprehended while fleeing into Canada via Buffalo, New York in her stolen car, authorities said.
Law enforcement said that Mott, who was part of an online communist social media community, was trying to run away to Russia.
Det. Chandler says he did not believe the communist chat room was some sort of “sleeper cell” that he needed to alert homeland security about. It was described as a bunch of teens creating this pseudo world @ActionNewsJax @WOKVNews
— Lorena Inclán (@LorenaANjax) October 16, 2019
“At the end of the day, I felt like she didn’t have to die. She simply got in the way,” Det. Neil Chandler said according to Action News Jax. “Got in the way of a teenager wanting to run away.”
Mott pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, according to Duval County records reviewed by Law&Crime. His attorneys said that his family participated obtaining the plea deal, according to First Coast News. Mott faces between 15 and 40 years in prison. In other words, the judge has the option to give him a lighter sentence than the mandatory minimum of 25. He was charged as an adult.
Forensic psychologist Dr. William Meadows said at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing that he considered Mott a high risk.
The doctor calls this an extreme outlier case. He said the psycho social history doesn’t match the offense. “When I met with Mott and I asked him ‘how was your life compared to other kids?’ He admitted it was better than most of his peers. I was struck.” pic.twitter.com/ouFd2ZAsZO
— Christy Turner (@ChristyANJax) November 27, 2019
He said Mott shot French first, then stabbed her multiple times.
Dr. William Meadows said any murder is extreme, but in comparison to other murder cases especially among juveniles, “this is out there.” He said it’s a concern the teen killed his grandmother, who was caring for him & supportive of him. pic.twitter.com/U0L8T8AuYO
— Christy Turner (@ChristyANJax) November 27, 2019
Eric Mott, the defendant’s father and victim’s son, asked the court to deliver the minimum sentence.
Mr. Mott: What Logan did was terrible. He deserves to be punished for it.
Mr. Mott is asking the judge to give Logan the least amount of time behind bars…”I’m asking you to not make this tragedy worse and give Logan a future.” pic.twitter.com/oL7Y56RMzS
— Christy Turner (@ChristyANJax) November 27, 2019
Prosecutors asked for the maximum of 40 years. The actual sentence will not be handed down today, said the judge.
[Screengrab via Action News Jax]
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