FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In a handwritten letter asking a judge for leniency, Brittany Hanfield wrote she had been behind bars since she was 17 years old and pregnant.
Hanfield, who was born in Fort Lauderdale, wrote to Broward County Circuit Judge Bernard Bober that she gave birth to her daughter while in detention.
Over the years, Hanfield wrote about her dream of being able to raise her daughter in freedom, and sent Bober a photo of them during a prison visit.
“The way I was living, I wouldn’t have lived to see 18,” Hanfield wrote. Years later, in another letter, she wrote, “Prison is an evil world of its own.”
In May, her daughter turned 17. On Tuesday, Hanfield appeared in court for a new capital homicide case related to when she was 17.
Records show that months after Hanfield turned 17, detectives identified her as a suspect in a case on April 11, 2007. It was for aggravated battery on a person 65 years old or older, burglary, and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon.
Detectives later identified Hanfield as a suspect in a case on Aug. 21, 2007. It was for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and carjacking.
Detectives also identified Hanfield as a suspect in an armed robbery case on Aug. 30, 2007. She was convicted of all six charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison on Sept. 26, 2008.
Months after Hanfield turned 17, detectives identified her as a suspect in a case on April 11, 2007. It was for aggravated battery on a person 65 years old or older, burglary, and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon.
Detectives identified her as a suspect in a case on Aug. 21, 2007. It was for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and carjacking. Detectives also identified her as a suspect in an armed robbery case on Aug. 30, 2007.
Hanfield was convicted of all six charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison on Sept. 26, 2008.
The Florida Department of Corrections took custody of Hanfield, and she was at the Lowell Annex Correctional Institution in Ocala when Broward County Circuit Judge Peter Holden ordered her return to court on Oct. 16.
Detectives had identified Hanfield as a suspect years after a man was found dead on May 13, 2007, in Broward County, records show. A grand jury indicted her on Oct. 16 for premeditated murder.
“Hanfield did so while engaged in the commission of or an attempt to commit the crime of robbery,” the grand jury’s foreperson wrote, according to the indictment.
On Tuesday, Hanfield appeared before Broward County Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips to face the premeditated murder charge.
“I will place the no-bond hold,” Phillips said in court, adding that Hanfield’s arraignment hearing for the capital homicide case was set for Nov. 14.
Inmate records show correctional deputies held Hanfield at the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale.
Hanfield appears in bond court
Brittany Hanfield appears in Broward County bond court
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