By CURT ANDERSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
MIAMI (AP) — A judge has sentenced a South Florida man a second time to life in prison for fatally stabbing his middle school friend when both were 14.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John Schlesinger delivered his ruling Monday in the case of 26-year-old Michael Hernandez. Hernandez had sought to reduce the prison sentence he is serving for killing Jaime Gough in 2004 in a middle school bathroom.
The original life sentence had to be reconsidered after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that juveniles could not automatically be sentenced to life without chance of parole.
Prosecutors wanted Hernandez to remain behind bars for life. Testimony indicated he remains obsessed with death and becoming a serial killer. Hernandez insisted his mental state improved and apologized during a recent hearing to the Gough family.
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