LAKE CITY, Fla. (WCJB) - 12-year-old Mariah Smith’s family read victim impact statements to the judge asking her to give 17-year-old Jayden Burch the maximum sentence, while Burch’s family asked her for leniency. However, after a more than 20-minute decision, she sentenced Burch to life in prison.

Judge Leandra Johnson says less than a month before the shooting, Burch stood before her and pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by someone younger than 18. And she told him he could not have a firearm. Johnson told him he did “more than that.”

“23, 24, 25 times,” said Johnson.

Counting out loud how many times he shot into Mariah’s home.

“I feel like this should be like a warning for anybody if you’re out here doing the right thing, you need to change your path around because one wrong

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