Nico Gallo appealed his 10 year sentence, but the court wouldn't bite. At the time of his crime, he was high on drugs that the trial judge said made him Nico Gallo appealed his 10 year sentence, but the court wouldn't bite. At the time of his crime, he was high on drugs that the trial judge said made him “psychically violent with super-human strength.” Photo: Florida Department of Corrections.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal declined to rehear a “disturbing” case, ruling prosecutors had been generous enough with Martin County man Nico Gallo, whose hallucinogenic drug binge saw him “cannonball” through a stranger's living room window, attack a mother and son, and try to drink his own blood.

Gallo — a 19-year-old with no criminal history when he broke in — pleaded guilty to trespassing, battery on a police officer, resisting arrest with violence and criminal mischief. He'd asked the court to reconsider his 10-year sentence, which he deemed constitutionally inappropriate.

Gallo's victims had to fight for their lives when he stirred them from bed by breaking in, saying, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry … I'm going to die today,” according to the opinion. The son wrestled with Gallo, hitting him with a baseball bat.

Police said Gallo appeared to be talking to Satan when they arrived, and trying to drink from a pool of his own blood, according to the court opinion, which said it took a Hazmat team to clean up.

Gallo's lawyers, West Palm Beach Public Defender Carey Haughwout and Assistant Public Defender Claire V. Madill said they were disappointed with the decision, which they said overlooked “the unfairness and injustice of sentencing a first-time 19-year-old offender to 10 years in prison.”

“The sentencing guidelines recommend that he get a sentence of probation or jail and all the evidence at sentencing indicated that Nico is a good kid who made a one-time mistake,” Madill said. “A 10-year prison sentence is not generous or compassionate. Rather, it is the type of sentence that ruins lives.”

At his sentencing, Gallo reportedly told the court, “I'm sorry. I know words are never going to be enough to fix what's happened.” He's since argued Martin Circuit Judge Lawrence Mirman was too harsh, as he hoped Gallo's sentence would discourage teens from taking drugs — in Gallo's case, cannabis, acid and methlyone.

The opinion cited Mirman's findings that, ”The need for deterrence overwhelms any remorse or apology” — something he said “does not ring loudly” considering the drugs made him “violently psychotic with super-human strength.”

Fourth DCA Judge Robert M. Gross ruled Gallo's sentence was well below any constitutional limits and, backed by Judges Burton Conner and Alan Forst, declined to make the case a matter of public importance.

The court found Gallo's sentence could have been longer, if it weren't for a plea bargain reducing a burglary charge to a trespass.

“Only because of the work of appellant's trial counsel and the generosity of the prosecutor in reducing the first-degree felony charge was appellant offered the chance to plead guilty to misdemeanor and three-third degree felonies, instead of a felony carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment,” Gross wrote.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody represented the state with Melynda Melear, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Read the full court opinion:

 

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