SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. — A man who was 15 when prosecutors said he killed two Sumter County teenagers has been sentenced to life in prison.
Clarence Patterson III, now 20, was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Mary P. Hatcher for the 2021 deaths of 17-year-old Isaiah Nelson and 16-year-old Prestin Nixon.
Patterson was sentenced to life in prison with a 25-year review on each count of murder, according to the State Attorney’s Office for the Fifth Judicial Circuit.
Prosecutors said the sentences will be served consecutively.
Patterson was charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder with a firearm.
READ: Deputies: Boy, 15, who shot, killed 2 teens ‘wanted to kill someone’
On June 4, 2025, Patterson entered an open plea before the court midway through his trial after jurors heard his recorded statement to law enforcement, prosecutors said.
He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm, discharging a firearm in public from a vehicle and possession of a firearm by a delinquent.
“No doubt this case has had a resounding impact on our quaint and calm community here in Sumter County,” State Attorney Bill Gladson said in a news release. “The tragic deaths of the two murdered teenagers are profoundly upsetting; however, it is particularly disconcerting that they were due to the actions of another adolescent.”
The case began in the early morning hours of May 12, 2021, when the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office received a call about two bodies on the side of the road.
Deputies said a garbage truck driver found the bodies while working his route and called 911 after noticing blood on both victims.
Nelson and Nixon were pronounced dead at the scene from apparent gunshot wounds, prosecutors said.
Hours later, investigators responded to a report of a vehicle parked behind a church with visible bullet holes, a shattered window and blood inside.
The vehicle’s owner told detectives his grandson, Nelson, had used the vehicle the night before, according to prosecutors.
Investigators later learned both victims were last seen in the vehicle with Patterson, prosecutors said.
When Patterson was taken into custody for questioning, he confirmed he had been with the victims earlier that night but initially denied involvement in their deaths, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Patterson later changed his statement and admitted shooting both victims, claiming self-defense.
Assistant State Attorneys Blake Shore and Donald McCathran prosecuted the case.
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