{"id":7065,"date":"2026-08-21T07:36:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T07:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7065"},"modified":"2026-08-21T07:36:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T07:36:50","slug":"laughing-florida-sicko-tells-court-he-wants-death-penalty-for-torturing-dismembering-teen-girl-he-lured-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7065","title":{"rendered":"Laughing Florida sicko tells court he wants death penalty for torturing, dismembering teen girl he lured on social media"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Florida sicko laughed in court Wednesday as he pleaded guilty to luring a 16-year-old girl to his home then killing and dismembering her body \u2014 and is seeking the death penalty for himself.<\/p>\n

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Steven Gress, 37, appeared smiling in a Pinellas County courtroom Wednesday morning and changed his plea to guilty on charges of kidnapping and first-degree murder in the February 2025 killing of Miranda Corsette, the Tampa Bay Times reported.<\/p>\n

Gress told the court he felt it was \u201cthe right thing to do,\u201d but maintained he did not actually kill Corsette.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not kill Miranda, but I was involved in certain things that led to her death,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gress had previously appeared before the court in July, where he told Judge Philip Federico he wanted to enter a guilty plea and requested the death penalty, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n

However, Federico ordered a competency exam before he would accept the plea.<\/p>\n

Court psychologist Dr. Mark Crawford told the judge Wednesday that Gress was \u201cvery open, very respectful, very cooperative\u201d during the evaluation and believed \u201che can freely and voluntarily enter a plea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis decision is not contaminated by any mental illness,\u201d Crawford said.<\/p>\n

Federico then called Gress to approach the bench to make sure he was fully aware that a guilty plea will land him either life in prison without parole or a death sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to understand the significance of what we\u2019re talking about as we go through this process,\u201d Federico said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d Gress replied.<\/p>\n

He then offered a chilling explanation for his plea.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife or death is a lose-lose,\u201d Gress said, then chuckled. \u201cI would rather do the lesser time than spend the next 53 years of my life behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gress lured Corsette to his home through the dating app Grindr on Valentine\u2019s Day 2025, according to St. Petersburg police.<\/p>\n

Gress picked the 16-year-old up from her grandmother\u2019s home in Gulfport and brought her to his apartment in St. Petersburg \u2014 where his partner, Michelle Brandes, was waiting.<\/p>\n

Gress and Brandes then beat, sexually abused and tortured Corsette for a week after he accused her of stealing a ring from the apartment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis little bitch stole my ring and won\u2019t give it back, so I\u2019ve been beating her ass,\u201d he told one neighbor who saw Corsette at his home, according to an affidavit obtained by the outlet.<\/p>\n

Gress\u2019 mother later told police he had sent her photos of the girl \u2014 nude, bruised and in increasingly worse condition.<\/p>\n

Officials said that Corsette was killed between February 20th and 24th.<\/p>\n

After his arrest on March 5, Gress told police that Brandes forced a billiard ball into Miranda\u2019s throat and wrapped her face in plastic.<\/p>\n

He claimed he couldn\u2019t get to her in time to poke holes in the plastic so she could breathe, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

The pair then drove Miranda\u2019s body to Brandes\u2019 mother\u2019s house in Largo, where Gress dismembered her with a chainsaw before stuffing her remains in trash bags and dumping them in a dumpster, police said.<\/p>\n

Brandes later admitted that she found the ring Corsette was accused of stealing in Gress\u2019 car, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe stole my ring; I wanted to get my ring back,\u201d Gress told the court on Wednesday before accepting \u201cresponsibility\u201d and pleading guilty.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI would like to say that I do believe that she killed herself, and I say that because she had the Saran Wrap on her face, but she was free to pull it off her face,\u201d Gress said, according to the Tampa Bay Times.<\/p>\n

After entering his guilty plea, Gress waived his right to a jury trial for the penalty phase of the case.<\/p>\n

A pre-trial hearing for his penalty phase is set for Nov. 4.<\/p>\n

Brandes turned herself over to police on March 8, 2025. She has entered a not guilty plea to kidnapping and murder charges and faces a potential death sentence if convicted.<\/p>\n

Read more Pennsylvania university soccer star Karoline Heintz stabbed to death by boyfriend who had his mom help dump teen\u2019s body<\/a><\/p>\n

A pretrial hearing for Brandes is scheduled for Oct. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida man Steven Gress, 37, laughed in court as he pleaded guilty to murdering 16-year-old Miranda Corsette and requested the death penalty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"yoast_head":"\nLaughing Florida sicko tells court he wants death penalty for torturing, dismembering teen girl he lured on social media - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7065\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Laughing Florida sicko tells court he wants death penalty for torturing, dismembering teen girl he lured on social media - 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