ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Christian Romero’s family wore matching outfits to the court date they were dreading: black tops, with blue accents to honor Romero’s favorite color.
Inside the room, they looked at Yaxiel Lebron-Flores, who, for the most part, refused to look at them.
Lebron-Flores was 15 years old when he drove a stolen SUV full of teenagers through a red light, crashing into Flores and killing him as the 23-year-old was returning home from work.
As the family listened, Lebron-Flores’ attorney and a prosecutor told the judge they had agreed to a deal that would sentence the teen as a youthful offender.
Under Florida law, youthful offenders cannot receive more than 6 years of punishment – far less than the 15 years the teenager faced for his felony charge.
Lebron-Flores agreed to the deal. Romero’s family did not.
“The justice system has failed us,” Romero’s sister, Elizabeth Evangelista, said, responding to the judge’s comments that the deal was better than a possible “not guilty” verdict in a trial.
The family wanted nine years of punishment and probation, along with drug and alcohol testing, a permanent license suspension, and community service.
Prosecutors asked the judge to suspend Lebron-Flores’ license for three years – the minimum mandatory under the law.
The judge did not have discretion to order additional punishments for the teenager other than that, since Lebron-Flores was already facing the maximum allowed. He’ll get nearly 300 days’ credit for time already served.
He was also not required to apologize to the family after entering his no-contest plea – another point of contention.
“If [the judge] wasn’t willing to make a name for himself, then that’s fair, but in our opinion, I feel much more could have happened to [Lebron-Flores],” sister Aryanna Romero said.
Two women who came to court to support the teenager did not answer questions as they left the building.
Prosecutors also did not respond to multiple attempts to contact them about the decision to accept a lighter punishment and left the courthouse through a side door to avoid cameras.
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