Murder Under the Friday Night Lights is highlighting the case of Norman “Pooh” Griffith, who was murdered by Carl Booth in Belle Glade, Florida.
Griffith was a senior and a football captain at Pahokee High School in Pahokee, playing linebacker and tight end for the Pahokee Blue Devils.
The 18-year-old had plans to attend college after graduation, and he had already received scholarship offers from Iowa State, Ball State, and Middle Tennessee State.
He was also interested in going to the NFL before tragedy struck following a Friday night game.
At around 1 a.m. on Sept. 27, 2008, Griffith was leaving an aftergame dance at the Boys and Girls Club in his mother’s 2004 Dodge Durango when shots rang out.
The 18-year-old was shot in the head and ultimately crashed the vehicle at the corner of SW 12th Street and MLK Boulevard.
He was airlifted to Delray Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelAccording to an autopsy, Griffith, a senior at Pahokee High School in Pahokee, was shot with a. 380-caliber handgun.
Investigators said shell casings for a .380-caliber handgun and a .40-caliber handgun were found at the scene.
Two teens were arrested in the slaying of Norman Griffith
Carl Booth, who was 17 years old at the time, confessed to the crime after he was arrested five days after the shooting.
He told investigators that he ” can’t help shaking the feeling that I feel like I killed him.”
Investigators stated that Booth fired a .40-caliber handgun at least five times, and they believe Willie Fleton, then 16, fired the fatal shot, using a .380-caliber handgun.
They supposedly shot Griffith because they wanted his gold necklace.
In November 2008, Booth was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and attempted robbery.
Fleton was facing the same charges, but investigators said they had to drop the charges because they could not find enough evidence to prove he shot and killed Griffith.
He was released from jail 175 days after he was arrested.
Life sentence for Carl Booth was reversed
In 2010, a jury found Booth guilty of first-degree murder, solely based on his confession and the testimony of two witnesses who said they saw him at the scene.
Neither witness could say he was the actual shooter.
A judge gave him a mandatory life sentence.
It was later reversed.
Booth was sentenced to 25 years after the U.S. Supreme Court decided that “juveniles should be given special consideration before they are sentenced to life without parole,” according to the Palm Beach Post.
Murder Under the Friday Night Lights airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.