BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) — A woman who was convicted of the 1997 murder of 25-year-old taxi driver Richard Phillips when she was 15-years old, will remain in prison after an appeals court decided to uphold her life sentence.
In 2020, Rebecca Falcon received a new sentencing, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that it’s unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life without the possibility of parole.
The case came back to Circuit Judge Brantley Clark who resentenced Falcon to life with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
She appealed to the First District Court of Appeals, which has now upheld Clark’s ruling.
One of the appellate judges said Falcon has not accepted responsibility for her actions or shown she is truly remorseful.
Falcon is now 40 years old and she wouldn’t be eligible for parole until she’s 53 years old.