The teenager is the first person to be sentenced for murder since a recent change in the law for sentencing juveniles to life.
A teenager will learn in March if he will receive a life sentence for the 2022 Tralee cemetery murder of Thomas Dooley. He is the first juvenile to be sentenced for murder since a recent law change, allowing departure from mandatory life sentences for those who turn 18 before sentencing. Five men, including Dooley's brother, brother-in-law/cousin, and cousin, already received life sentences for the murder. The teenager was armed with a baseball bat and considered of "medium culpability." The judge must decide the appropriate sentence, marking the first time the court has determined a headline sentence in a murder case involving a juvenile.
