JERRY LEE ALLEY JR - 12 yo (5/2000) - / Convicted: John Silva, 15 yo - Interlachen, FL

Fla. 15-Year-Old Convicted of Murder

P A L A T K A, Fla., Feb. 8
By Ron Word


A 15-year-old was convicted of first degree murder today for strangling a 12-year-old whose body was found in a dry septic tank pit two days after he disappeared.

John Silva, who was tried as an adult, can only be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for murdering Jerry Lee Alley Jr.

The jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Silva guilty. The 12 jurors had the option of considering a second-degree murder or manslaughter conviction.

Silva's mother and sister cried when the verdict was read and began sobbing heavily as the judge continued speaking.

The victim's grandparents, Marlin and Anne Alley, hugged Cynthia Silva after the jury that convicted her son was dismissed.

"I'm just sorry we both lost sons to this," said Marlin Alley, with tears rolling down his cheeks. "It's a shame. This didn't have to happen at all."

'He Will Die in Prison'

Assistant District Attorney Garry Wood said the conviction was appropriate and would prevent Silva from ever hurting anyone else.
"John Silva is capable of killing another human again … he will die in prison," Wood said.

Sentencing was scheduled for March 15.

In closing arguments, Wood wrapped an elastic bandage around his neck to show how Jerry was strangled.

"This is the instrument of death," Woods said. "He wrapped it four times around Jerry Alley's neck and knotted it four times."
Wood urged the jury to find Silva guilty of premeditated first-degree murder.

Defense: Too Many Unanswered Questions

But Silva's attorney, Doug Withee, told the jury there were too many unanswered questions to find Silva guilty of murder.

Withee said a 3½-hour statement given by his client to investigators had many inconsistencies with the facts.

"Is it an admission of anything?" he asked. "The facts in this case … do not match this statement."

Withee pointed to a witness' statement that Silva was gone from home for 30 minutes during the time of the slaying and did not have the time to lure Jerry to a vacant lot, kill him, tie him up and return.

"Please consider, was there someone else involved?" Withee asked.

Earlier, Withee rested his case without calling any witnesses. The announcement to Circuit Judge A.W. Nichols came after Withee met with Silva and his mother, Cynthia Silva.

Wood closed his case this morning after calling two Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents who testified about the interview Silva gave to investigators and about Silva's handwriting.

Jurors Hear Alleged Confession

On the 3½-hour tape, heard by jurors Wednesday, Silva said Jerry's May 26 death was an accident that came as they wrestled in a dry septic-tank pit and the boy hit his head.

Silva said he threw his playmate's red bicycle and book bag into the pit, in a vacant lot near the boys' homes in rural Interlachen, about 30 miles east of Gainesville, and covered it with some plywood. Jerry was missing from Friday until Sunday when his body was discovered.

Medical Examiner Terrence Steiner testified that the boy died from having an Ace bandage and an electrical cord tied around his neck. He said the boy had no head wounds.

Early in the tape recording, Silva denied any knowledge of the death, but later changed his story to say it was an accident, that he had not planned it.

Murderous Outline

But Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab technician Joseph Dorsey testified that a note detailing Silva's plans contained three of his fingerprints and also one of the victim.

The note, with spelling errors, read: "a list to prepair Jarey." It included such lines as "strip to underware rap in tower," "tie up hands," "gag," and "cover eyes."

Earlier in the tape, a sobbing Silva apologized.

"I'm sorry," he told investigators. "I didn't mean for this to happen."


http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=94141

15-Year-Old Gets Life for Killing Friend
March 15


A second Florida boy has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for playing what turned out to be a deadly game.

John Silva, 15, was convicted of first-degree murder for binding a playmate with elastic bandages and wire so tightly that he suffocated. Today he received the mandatory sentence of life in jail without parole. Had he been an adult, he could have faced the death penalty.

Last week, Lionel Tate, 14, received the same sentence for killing a 6-year-old girl by flinging her around a room so hard she suffered a fractured skull, ruptured kidney, broken rib and 32 other injuries. Tate said he was imitating professional wrestling moves.

The victim, 12-year-old Jerry Lee Alley Jr., was reported missing on May 26, and a massive search was mounted in the pine barrens around the northeast Florida town of Interlachen, where he lived.

His body was found three days later in an abandoned septic tank, and police also found a list of instructions on how the boy was killed, even naming the victim.

Confession, But No Explanation

Silva confessed to the crime, saying he kidnapped Alley, took him into the woods, and then stripped, bound and gagged him. When he realized that Alley had died, he dumped the boy's body and his bicycle in the septic tank. But he never explained why he did it.

In Tate's case, the district attorney who prosecuted the case said after the sentencing that he would support a clemency request that was being prepared to be sent to Gov. Jeb Bush.

The man who prosecuted Silva had no such feelings for the defendant.

Assistant State Attorney Garry Wood told The Associated Press that he believed that Silva would only kill again if he were released.

"John Silva is getting what he deserved," Wood said.

The jury was given the option of considering charges of manslaughter or second-degree murder in addition to first-degree murder, as in the Tate trial. Silva will be held in a juvenile facility until he turns 21, and then be transferred to an adult facility.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93827