A Jacksonville man convicted of murder accepted a plea deal and will serve seven more years in prison after he was re-sentenced Monday.
Mark Berrios was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for shooting Olen Hepler, a suspected pedophile, in 1995. Berrios was 14. Investigators said he stole Hepler's truck and $800.
On Monday, he was offered a 30-year plea deal at a re-sentencing hearing.
He accepted and will serve seven more years in prison after a 23-year incarceration period.
Berrios' family pleaded with a judge to release him before his hearing Monday. They said there was much more to the story.
His mother Margaret Loring said Berrios ran away from a 30-day juvenile program in Daytona Beach when he was 14.
She said he was a good kid but got into mischief.
Loring said she never thought that mischief would lead to involvement with an abusive man.
Loring said Hepler was a pedophile who preyed on troubled boys.
She said her son felt there was no way out.
“My son grabbed the molester's gun and shot him," she said.
Berrios was later arrested in Jacksonville.
According to newspaper reports at the time, during the trial, evidence of Hepler’s pedophilia was not allowed to be admitted.
Berrios was convicted and given life without parole.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole, meaning Berrios had a shot at freedom.
The judge received a half-dozen letters of support, and expert testimony from a man who says he endured the same abuse.
“I try not to cry on the phone with him, make him think everything is good, keep his spirits up, but I cry inside,” Loring said of conversations with her son.
Loring said she hopes for a chance to pick up where they left off.
“There is no life for me with my son in prison,” she said.
Cox Media Group
