America's Youngest Convicted Murderers to Be Released From Prison
The two youngest American children to ever be tried as adults for first-degree murder are set to be released from prison this week.
Curtis and Catherine Jones were 12 and 13-years-old when they were convicted for killing their father's girlfriend, Nicole Speights, back in 1999. After they pleaded to second-degree murder, they were sentenced to 18 years behind bars, reports Fox News.
Now, after 16 years in prison, Curtis is set to be released from a correctional facility in Central Florida on Tuesday, while Catherine is scheduled to be freed from another prison on Saturday, reports NBC News. They will both spend the rest of their lives on probation.
According to the Fox News report, officials initially said that the siblings killed their father's live-in girlfriend because they grew jealous of his relationship with her. However, it was later revealed that the siblings also planned to kill their father, as well as a male relative, who was living at their Florida home and whom they alleged was sexually abusing them. The children said that they reported the abuse, but no one believed them.
Today, Curtis is a 29-year-old ordained minister, while Catherine is a 30-year-old wife.
According to NBC, Catherine says she fell in love with her pen pal, Navy officer Senior Chief Ramous Fleming, while in prison. The two began exchanging letters after Fleming read a story about her life in 2009 and decided to reach out.
"I had never done anything like that before. Her story just piqued my interest and I wanted to be pen pals," he told Florida Today.
The couple was married at the Hernando Correctional Institution's chapel in November 2013. Although she will start a new life with her husband, Catherine says that she has inhibitions about leaving prison and facing a world that she has not seen in almost two decades.
"Of course there are fears," she said. "Mainly because there's so much I must learn to function like a normal person: how to drive, fill out job applications, text, dress for a job interview, build my credit."
Catherine has never driven a car, surfed the Internet or gone on a job interview.
"The idea of being 30 and completely dependent on others to teach me how to do these basic things isn't appealing. I'll leave prison just as clueless as I was at 13," she said.
However, Fleming said that he is prepared to help his wife readjust to life and freedom.
"There is a lot she has to learn but it's very exciting at the same time. I look forward to it and I think my training in the military has prepared me for it. There will certainly be a lot of adjusting to do," he said.
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