TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Florida Supreme Court reduced the death sentence for a man convicted of killing an FSU student in 2010 and ruled he must serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In its unanimous ruling, the court said Thursday that it decided for Kentrell Feronti Johnson "based on Johnson's performance of his part of his agreement with the State."
Johnson and prosecutors had agreed that if Johnson led police to the body of Vincent Binder he would avoid the death penalty.
Binder, a 29-year-old Florida State University graduate student, was kidnapped on April 2, 2010, by Johnson and two other men who had escaped from a Louisiana jail.
Johnson drew a map that directed officials to Binder's Body in St. Johns County.
Johnson's attorneys reached the agreement to spare their client from death with Leon County prosecutors, but prosecutors in St. Johns County were not a party to the agreement.
Florida's top court rejected various arguments against upholding the agreement to spare Johnson's life, including the inevitability of the discovery of Binder's body.
"Whether the State could have eventually found the body is immaterial to its obligation," justices wrote.
The court said that "to allow the State to avoid its promise to a defendant, made by a state attorney with authority over a case, by transferring the case to another violates general contract principles and notions of fundamental fairness. Therefore, Johnson is entitles to the enforcement of his agreement and a life sentence."
