Country's Youngest Convicted Murderers Go Free This Week

Curtis and Catherine Jones were just fresh-faced middle school kids back in 1999 when they became the youngest children in America ever to be charged as adults for first-degree murder.

Curtis, who was 12 at the time, and Catherine, 13, were ultimately convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of their father’s live-in girlfriend, Sonya Nicole Speights. Police, at the time, said Sonya, 29, was working on a jigsaw puzzle at the family’s dining room table when Catherine used a 9mm handgun to shoot her. Catherine dropped the gun after firing a single bullet, but Curtis picked it up and emptied it into Speights.

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said the siblings were jealous of Speights and tried to cover up the crime as a robbery gone bad. Curtis and Catherine both eventually confessed to the Jan. 6, 1999, crime, prompting the first-degree murder charges. Catherine, however, told Florida Today years after the crime, jealousy wasn’t the motive. She told the paper she and Curtis were sexually assaulted by a family member, but neither Speights nor their father believed them. Deputies acknowledged the abuse allegations, but could find no evidence to support the claim.

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Curtis and Catherine ultimately accepted a plea deal that resulted in an 18-year sentence. The two will have both served nearly 16 years upon their release later this week.

Curtis was initially placed into the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections on Nov. 12, 1999, state records indicate. He was released into a juvenile detention facility in 2004, but was accused of making an escape, records show. He returned to DOC custody on Feb. 10, 2005, to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

After spending more than half his life behind bars, Curtis will be released from the South Bay Correction Facility Tuesday. He is now 29 – the same age Speights was when she died.

Catherine is also scheduled for release from the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala this week. At 30, she, too, has spent more than half her life behind bars. Catherine did meet and eventually wed Navy officer Ramous Fleming while in state custody. The pair had a pen pal relationship before getting married two years ago at the Hernando Correction Institution in Brooksville, MSNBC reported.

Catherine’s release date is set for Saturday, DOC records indicate. Unlike Curtis, Catherine, was not convicted on additional charges after her original sentence.

Both will serve a lifetime of probation upon release.

Photos courtesy of the Florida Department of Corrections