A man who attacked a 13-year-old from behind and severely slashed his neck with a box cutter in Daytona Beach was handed a decades-long prison sentence in Florida, according to prosecutors.
Jermaine Lynn Long pleaded no contest to aggravated battery and attempted second-degree murder on Thursday, October 15, in connection with the February attack, the Volusia County State Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He also pleaded no contest to six charges stemming from three separate cases.
Long was then sentenced to 45 years in prison, 30 of which relate to his status as a “prison release offender,” according to the state attorney’s office.
On February 14, Long circled behind a 13-year-old boy near the Daytona Beach Boardwalk and sliced his neck with a box cutter before fleeing, as captured on surveillance cameras, prosecutors said.
The boy’s mother, Lori Nicole Clarke, and other individuals witnessed the attack, which left the teen needing 13 stitches, according to Long’s arrest affidavit.
The teen didn’t see Long and only remembered “seeing a hand come up in his view before the incident,” the affidavit states.
He was attacked as had been looking at a Slingshot ride at the Daytona Beach Pier, according to his family, per WKMG-TV.
Police located Long in the area shortly afterward and discovered he had a box cutter and knife, according to prosecutors.
The boy, Sullivan Clarke, now 14, told the judge in court on Thursday that he nearly died, the TV station reported. His neck remains scarred.
“I don’t know what kind of life Jermaine Long had, but I hope you find Jesus,” Sullivan reportedly said.
Long also spoke in court and issued an apology.
“I’m sorry for putting the family and the young man through that. But me, I didn’t know what I was doing at the time,” Long said, per WKMG-TV.
Sullivan and his mother believe Long was handed the appropriate punishment, according to WTVT.
“I don’t forgive him,” Sullivan reportedly said in court.
Lori wants to know why Long wasn’t arrested earlier, when she said he allegedly struck a man in the head with a sledgehammer before attacking her son, per the TV station.
“We’re wondering if the police failed to pat him down when he was detained for hitting the man in the head with a sledgehammer,” Lori said.
Long’s court-appointed defense attorney, Steven Robinson, said in an emailed statement to Us on Friday, October 16, that Long “remains extremely remorseful for his actions.”
“He also did not wish for any involved to be forced to relive this event,” Robinson added. “He is grateful to the family for agreeing with the sentence recommendation, the Office of the State Attorney for extending the sentence recommendation and to the Court for excepting the recommendation.”
In a statement on Long’s sentence, Volusia County State Attorney R.J. Larizza said, “An extremely dangerous individual is now off the streets for 45 years.”
“Hopefully, he will not survive his incarceration,” Larizza added.
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