MARION COUNTY, Fla. — An Ocala man is heading to death row for his part in the slaying of a 15-year-old boy.
During a 10-minute hearing on Friday, Circuit Judge David Eddy read 21-year-old Michael Bargo's death sentence.
Bargo was the last of five defendants to be sentenced in the April 2011 murder of Seath Jackson in Summerfield, near Ocala.
"It is the judgment of the law and the sentence of the court for the premeditated murder of Seath Jackson, you Michael Shane Bargo are sentenced to death," Eddy said.
Prosecutors said Jackson was lured to the home where he was beaten, shot and tortured before his body was burned in a backyard fire pit. The teen's remains were then placed into three paint buckets and dumped into a limerock pit.
In August, Bargo was convicted for his role in Jackson's murder. His co-defendants are serving life sentences.
A jury had already recommended the death penalty by an overwhelming majority.
"By a vote of 10-2, we the jury recommend the court that it impose the death penalty."
During a hearing last month, Bargo took the stand and maintained his innocence, telling the judge he doesn't deserve to die.
"I don't want to die, man. I really don't. I was 18 years old, man," said Bargo.
Bargo's father and other family members comforted his grandmother as she broke down crying when the judge read the sentence.
At the age of 21, Bargo will now be the youngest inmate sitting on Florida's death row.
His case will automatically go up on appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Source: The Associated Press, December 14, 2013
