Mychal King was having a bad day so he decided to kill the next person he saw. According to court documents Mychal King was having a rough day when he saw the victim ride by him on a bicycle and proceeded to attack. According to autopsy reports the victim was stabbed twenty five times.
This teen killer initially got away with the brutal murder but eventually someone turned in the murder weapon and soon Mychal King was arrested. This teen killer who confessed to the murder would plead not guilty however eventually he would be sentenced to life in prison.
Mychal King 2023 Information
| DC Number: | R79446 |
|---|---|
| Name: | KING, MYCHAL T |
| Race: | BLACK |
| Sex: | MALE |
| Birth Date: | 04/28/1997 |
| Initial Receipt Date: | 03/18/2015 |
| Current Facility: | Gulf C.I |
| Current Custody: | CLOSE |
| Current Release Date: | SENTENCED TO LIFE |
Mychal King Other News
Mychal King was 15 when authorities say he fatally stabbed a Clearwater bicyclist in 2013. Sentenced to life in prison, he is scheduled to be resentenced today under new state sentencing guidelines for juveniles convicted of murder that could lower his sentence to 40 years.
But his assistant public defender wants the court to withdraw King’s guilty plea. She argued in motions filed Thursday and Friday that audio recordings and transcripts of King’s three interviews with police were not released to prosecutors or King’s previous defense attorney.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said Monday though that Clearwater police did turn over recordings, which were copied to CDs and included in records provided to the defense.
“I have a hard time believing that would not have been something that would be provided to us,” he said.
On Jan. 5., 2013, Jason Paul, 22, was bicycling home from work near Crest Lake Park in Clearwater when he was stabbed repeatedly.
Seven months later, King was arrested. Someone turned in the military-style knife he allegedly used to stab Paul. King also confessed to the murder during an interview with detectives while he was being held at the Pinellas County jail on unrelated charges.
In January 2015, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and Pinellas Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone sentenced him to life in prison, with the chance of parole after 25 years.
But under new state laws in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that found automatic life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional, all juveniles convicted of murder cannot be sentenced without a hearing to determine if life imprisonment is an appropriate sentence. If the court finds that it’s not, the defendant gets a minimum of 40 years, with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
That means King, now 19, gets a chance at a lower sentence. In January, assistant public defender Stacey Schroeder took over his case. The State Attorney’s Office provided her with 735 pages of police reports. But records she requested from the Clearwater Police Department included three audio recordings and transcripts of King’s interrogations that were never part of the defense’s case files, she wrote in her filings.
Last week, she filed several motions, including one to suppress King’s interviews with police because the new records show that his statements were “illegally obtained.” Schroeder also filed to withdraw King’s guilty plea.
Mychal King Other News
A teenager was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for randomly stabbing and killing a stranger passing by on a bicycle
Mychal King hung his head and shook it when the judge asked if he wanted to say anything in the crowded courtroom. His mother made an attempt to stand up for her son, saying he was “not a bad kid,” but had gone through a rough time of near-homelessness. “We all do stupid things,” she added.
But the family and friends of victim Jason Paul, who packed the courtroom, stood up too. They said it was utterly unfair that they no longer get to see him and enjoy his company.
“Mychal, I do not understand how you could brutally stab someone you didn’t know just because you had a bad day,” Paul’s mother Renee Langfritz said during the hearing.
King was 15 in January 2013 when he brutally slashed Paul, 22, who was bicycling home from work near Crest Lake Park in Clearwater. King later told detectives he was extremely angry on that night and decided to kill the next person he saw.
“Do you know, Mychal, that our son lay dead in the street for over eight hours, alone? You took away all the hopes and dreams we had as parents,” Langfritz said.
“This was not a mistake or an accident or an unintended consequence,” Assistant State Attorney Joshua Riba said. “This crime, this murder, was a cold-blooded offense.”
In a surprise decision in January, King pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and unrelated charges, including sale and possession of cocaine and aggravated battery. He did not have a plea bargain, so he was putting himself at the court’s mercy. His attorney Daniel Hernandez said this showed he was taking responsibility for his crime.
Langfritz said she was glad she did not have to sit though a trial, but thought King should have had to endure one, so he could reflect on his crime. “Pleading guilty was a cowardly way out,” she said.
For Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone, the case presented a complicated legal question. The U.S. Supreme Court has said people under 18 who commit murder cannot automatically be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But anyone else convicted of first-degree murder in Florida would either be given a life sentence without parole, or the death penalty.
Bulone said that under recent case law, he needed to sentence King to life in prison with a chance at parole after 25 years for the murder, although future decisions from appellate courts could change that
Mychal King Other News
Clearwater Police have charged a suspect for the murder of Jason Paul, who was found stabbed to death near Crest Lake Park in January.
Mychal King, 16, was upset because of an argument with his family and decided to take his rage out on the next person he saw, which happened to be Paul, Police Chief Anthony Holloway said Thursday.
“This is really disturbing to us,” Holloway said regarding the lack of motive typical in a crime.
King already was in Pinellas County Jail on other charges when he was connected to this incident, Holloway said.
King is charged with first-degree murder, Holloway said.
Paul was riding his bike to his home on Franklin Street from work when King stopped and stabbed him, leaving his lifeless body near the 100 block of South Glenwood Avenue.
It was a short-cut route Paul recently started taking and was only a couple blocks away from home when he was killed.
Paul’s wallet, cell phone and cleaning supplies he purchased on his way home still were on him when investigators found him.
Paul loved skateboarding and his dog Marley, said Renee Paul Langfritz, Paul’s mother.
“His whole life was becoming great,” she said. “(He) just had a whole bright future.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Mychal King Now
Mychal King is currently incarcerated at Gulf Correctional Institute
Mychal King Release Date
Mychal King is serving life without parole
