Judge Says No to Convicted Killer’s Last Request Before Sending Him Away for Life
An 18-year-old Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison for gunning down 15-year-old Kayla Rincon-Miller during a botched robbery in Cape Coral. Thomas Stein asked Judge Nick Thompson for one last hug with his family before being led away. The judge said no. He could say goodbye, but no physical contact.
Stein was 16 when he pulled the trigger on the night of March 17, 2024. Kayla and two friends were walking from a movie theater to a nearby McDonald’s when an SUV pulled up beside them.
Stein and his co-defendant, Christopher Horne Jr., had already tried to break into parked cars at another theater that night. They then set their sights on Kayla and her friends. A gun went off at close range. The bullet hit Kayla in the chest.
15-year-old Kayla Rincon-Miller was just walking to McDonald’s with friends after seeing a movie when everything turned tragic.
On March 17, 2024, Kayla and two friends were heading toward a McDonald’s in Cape Coral, Florida, when an SUV started following them. Investigators say… pic.twitter.com/53CIZ6hWK2
— GFY TV (@Viralvid_89) May 8, 2026
What happened after the shooting
She was still conscious when police arrived. She told the officer she did not know who had shot her. She died a short time later at the hospital.
Cape Coral police built the case over months. Eventually the State Attorney’s Office pulled both teenagers out of the juvenile system entirely, and a Lee County grand jury indicted them as adults on first-degree felony murder charges.
Horne took a plea deal. He testified against Stein and got 25 years. A jury convicted Stein in May after a week-long trial in Fort Myers, and he tried for a new trial in June. Denied.
The sentencing
On Friday, Judge Thompson handed down life in prison for the murder, plus 45 more years for three counts of attempted armed robbery, running consecutively. Because Stein was only 16 at the time of the crime, the law guarantees him a review of the life sentence after 15 years. The 45 years stack on top regardless.
Prosecutors pushed for the maximum, pointing to Stein’s prior car break-in convictions and arguing he orchestrated the whole thing. The judge agreed.
Before he was taken away, Stein apologized to Kayla’s family and admitted getting behind the wheel that night was “selfish.” He said he never expected the night to end in a shooting. Then came the request to hug his family. Thompson refused it, and the moment went viral within hours.
One of the girls who was walking with Kayla that night, Louann Dejaie, told the court she feels trapped in a coma she cannot wake up from.
