Add Tyler Hadley to the unfortunately growing list of murdering minors who get a second shot at sentencing while their victims are still dead. Hadley was 17 in 2011 when he bludgeoned his parents to death with a hammer in their Port St. Lucie, Florida, Home. He then threw a party that he had invited all his friends to on Facebook while his parents’ corpses laid in their bed. He was tried as an adult and pleaded no contest but not before giving out prison autographs that read ‘Hammer Time’.
Hadley was sentenced to two life terms, one for each parent, Mary Jo Hadley, 47, and Blake Hadley, 54. Now the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach has ordered that Hadley be resentenced due to the Supreme Court’s ruling that automatic life without parole for minors is unconstitutional.
Hadley’s uncle, Mike Hadley, puts it better than I ever could…
“All I can say is that whatever laws that they are passing to let these young kids under 17 to just do whatever they want and then give them a lighter sentence is insane,” Hadley said during a phone interview. “It makes no sense at all. When somebody can do those horrendous things to another human being and then stand back and laugh about it and have a party over their dead bodies is crazy. You can never let those people out on society again — ever.”
Added Hadley: “He got a lighter sentence because he didn’t get the death penalty. He’s lucky he got what he got.
Not to mention that he obviously has no remorse for his actions. Not only was he trying to parlay his infamy into some kind of badass prison rep but he also pleaded no contest. That means he did not admit any guilt but agreed that the prosecution had enough evidence to convict him.
Like his uncle said, he deserves the death penalty. Anything less than at least one life sentence is a massive miscarriage of justice.
UPDATE 9/20/2017: Hadley’s re-sentencing has been rescheduled until sometime in 2018.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 