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Joshua Phillips told investigators that he killed the girl in 1998 after she was hurt playing baseball with him. He said he was afraid of getting in trouble because his father had told him he was too old to play with her.
Phillips' trial was in Bartow due to intense media coverage of crime and strong community feelings would have made it difficult to get an impartial jury in Jacksonville.
A medical examiner testified in the 1999 trial that the girl's
head had been bashed and that she had stab wounds in her neck. The autopsy
showed that she was still alive when Phillips shoved her underneath his waterbed
mattress.
"The court's task is only to measure the penalty imposed against constitutional standards," Judge Casanueva wrote in the court's ruling. "Joshua Phillip's sentence for this crime cannot be said to be unusual punishment."
State Attorney Harry Shorstein, who personally prosecuted the case, released a statement affirming the appeals court's ruling, noting it was a unanimous decision of the three-judge panel.
"It's terrible to see a 14-year-old sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole," Shorstein said. "On the other hand, it's an unbelievably tragic murder of a wonderful young girl.
Assistant State Attorney Angela Corey told Channel 4 that Phillips' lawyer could appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, perhaps claiming that he had ineffective counsel at trial.
Contacted by Channel 4, Phillip's current attorney had no comment on Wednesday's ruling.
The Florida Department of Corrections said that Phillips, who is currently housed at Marion Correctional Institution near Ocala, will probably join the adult prison when he turns 18 next month.