‘I’m a good person’: Dad who killed 5-year-old daughter with ‘precise, deliberate shots’ to the head told court, ‘I always made sure my family had the best’

Jermaine L. Bass addressing the court during his sentencing hearing in Tampa, Florida on March 3, 2025 (Law&Crime).

Jermaine L. Bass addressing the court during his sentencing hearing in Tampa, Florida on March 3, 2025 (Law&Crime).

A 32-year-old father in Florida will spend the rest of his days behind bars for shooting his two small children, killing the youngest. Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Samantha L. Ward on Monday formally ordered Jermaine L. Bass to serve a sentence of life in a state correctional facility without parole after he was found guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of 5-year-old daughter Jaylah Bass.

In addition to the mandatory life sentence, Ward also sentenced Bass to an additional 25 years for shooting and injuring his 8-year-old son, JJ Bass, who took a bullet to the head but miraculously survived.

The sentencing hearing

Several of the victims’ family members addressed the court during the sentencing hearing, including Shirley Bass, Jaylah and JJ’s mother, who wore a shirt with her daughter’s face on it.

“Nothing compares to the joy of watching your children thrive,” Shirley Bass said. “Yet, in an instant, everything changes. Your husband and children are taken away from you, leaving you to question, how could he? How could he hurt them and put them in harm’s way, knowing he’s supposed to be their protector? What could drive him to such action.”

“It’s no longer why, but how,” she continued. “How could a person choose to harm their own child? A little girl who had just begun to experience the world.”

Bass, who did not testify in his own defense during the trial, also spoke during the hearing, claiming that his gun accidentally went off, hitting his daughter three times and his son once. All of the shots were to the victims’ heads, with authorities saying they were all “precise, deliberate shots.”

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