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Hernando Today

Murderer's Life Sentence Dropped To 10 Years

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: December 24, 2008

Hernando Today

BROOKSVILLE - A convicted murderer's life sentence was reduced to 10 years on Thursday.

Now James Ray Booth has to find a way to pare down his other life sentence.

Booth, 59, was charged with first-degree murder in 2006 after a struggle over a rifle in a drug house in DaMac Estates, north of Brooksville. During the struggle the weapon fired five times; one of the bullets killed Kenneth LaPointe Sr. as he sat at his kitchen table.

A jury acquitted Booth of aggravated battery and armed burglary during his trial this year. He was found guilty of a lesser crime - third-degree murder - and convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm.

The 30-minute sentencing hearing grew tedious as Prosecutor Pete Magrino and the suspect's attorney, Patricia Jenkins, wrangled over legal semantics. The ultimate outcome was two consecutive life sentences and 20 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

But the legal battle, it appears, is not quite over.

Booth recently filed a motion to correct an "illegal" sentence. By his calculations, the sentence should be 30 years prison with a mandatory 25 served.

His reasoning is spelled out in dry legal arguments but hinges on the fact that the murder was based on the original aggravated assault and battery charges.

An acquittal on the battery leaves the assault as the only leg for the murder charge to stand on. And language in the indictment only offers the vague term "used" to describe Booth's actions with the gun the day of the crime.

In other words, there's no clear language that Booth actually fired the gun and scared the victim, which would constitute aggravated assault.

In the state's response to the motion, Magrino agrees that the wording is hazy and supports the sentence reduction on that charge. But that's the extent of his concessions.

The other sentences are firmly supported by case law and Florida statutes, he writes.

Circuit Judge Jack Springstead, who had stern words for Booth at the sentencing in June, made the change during a hearing Dec. 18. But his order is clear:

"Count 4 (the aggravated assault) only, ... all other sentences remain the same."

A message left for Booth's attorney was not returned Tuesday.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com

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