Carl Booth Jr., convicted in 2008 murder of Pahokee football player, wins release from prison

Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post
·3 min read
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WEST PALM BEACH — A man convicted as a juvenile in the 2008 shooting death of a Pahokee High School football standout will be soon be released from prison after a judge on Tuesday agreed to reduce his 25-year prison sentence to probation.

Palm Beach County Senior Judge Barry Cohen ruled that Carl Booth Jr. has sufficiently been rehabilitated and ordered his release from the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections, placing him on five years of probation.

Booth will be eligible to complete his probation in Georgia, court records showed. He remained in custody at the Palm Beach County Jail on Tuesday afternoon, awaiting the final paperwork for his release to be completed.

Pahokee football standout Norman 'Pooh' Griffith died in shooting

Booth, now 32, was serving 25 years in the September 2008 shooting death of Pahokee football standout Norman "Pooh" Griffith outside a homecoming dance at the Boys and Girls Club in Belle Glade.

Pahokee High School football player Norman Griffith is shown on the field prior to a football game against Jupiter in Pahokee on Friday Sept. 26, 2008. A day later, Griffith was shot and killed in Belle Glade.
Pahokee High School football player Norman Griffith is shown on the field prior to a football game against Jupiter in Pahokee on Friday Sept. 26, 2008. A day later, Griffith was shot and killed in Belle Glade.

Booth, who was 17 at the time of Griffith's murder, initially was sentenced to a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury in 2010 found him guilty of first-degree murder and attempted robbery.

At trial, jurors agreed that Booth did not fire the shots that killed Griffith. However, he was convicted under the legal theory that those who participate in a crime are equally culpable.

A 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision declared life without parole sentences for juveniles to be unconstitutional, paving the way for Cohen in 2016 to resentence Booth to 25 years. Under Florida laws that govern prison terms for juvenile offenders, Booth's sentence was eligible for review after he served 15 years.

If a court determines at a sentence review hearing that a juvenile offender has been rehabilitated and is reasonably believed to be fit to re-enter society, it can modify the sentence and impose a probation term of least five years.

Defense: Booth spent time in prison working to become better person

Defense attorney Jennifer Marshall said Booth has spent his time in prison working to become a better person, acquiring his GED and completing anger management classes.

“This was an isolated and incredibly tragic incident," Marshall told The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday afternoon.

Tears run down Carl Booth's face as he apologizes to the family of Norman "Pooh" Griffith in court Friday, January 15, 2015. Booth, convicted of the 2008 shooting death of Griffith, is being resentenced under a new state law that requires juveniles to be given special consideration before they can be handed life sentences.
Tears run down Carl Booth's face as he apologizes to the family of Norman "Pooh" Griffith in court Friday, January 15, 2015. Booth, convicted of the 2008 shooting death of Griffith, is being resentenced under a new state law that requires juveniles to be given special consideration before they can be handed life sentences.

"Since being incarcerated, Mr. Booth has shown and demonstrated rehabilitation and has shown maturity over the last 15 years. He had never spent a single night in prison or in jail or any such facility before in his life. For the last 15 years he’s woken up in the Department of Corrections, and every day he made an effort to be a better person."

Dr. Heather Holmes, a licensed psychologist who testified on behalf of the defense, told the court that Booth posed a low risk for reoffending.

State forced to drop charges against man suspected of firing fatal shots

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators said Griffith, 18, was shot to death Sept. 27, 2008, in an apparent robbery attempt outside a community dance in Belle Glade.

Griffith, a standout linebacker and tight end who received football scholarship offers from several colleges, was killed while trying to drive away from the confrontation, authorities said.

PBSO took Booth into custody after a grand jury indicted him a few weeks after the shooting. Investigators said he fired a .40-caliber handgun at least five times but never hit Griffith, but jurors found that he neither possessed a firearm nor fired one during the crime.

During his initial sentencing, Booth apologized to Griffith's family, saying he never intended to hurt his friend.

Investigators identified another teen, Willie Felton, then 16, as the person believed to have killed Griffith. However, they were forced to drop charges against him permanently because they were unable to gather sufficient evidence within 175 days of his arrest, as required by Florida's speedy trial laws.

Felton, now 31, is serving 10 years in state prison after pleading guilty in 2020 to burglary, assault and drug possession charges, court records show.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Teen convicted in 2008 slaying of football player released from prison