The sentence kept Jazmin Paez out of state custody while extending court supervision, treatment requirements and a no-contact order involving her son.
MIAMI, Fla. — The woman who admitted trying to arrange the killing of her 3-year-old son through a parody website walked out of court without a prison sentence Monday, but not without years of state control that could last into 2040.
That contrast drove the outcome in Miami-Dade County: no prison cell now, but two years of community control, 12 years of reporting probation, mandatory therapy, mental health review and a continuing bar on contact with the child. The defendant, Jazmin Paez, 20, pleaded guilty to solicitation of first-degree murder, unlawful use of a communications device and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence after prosecutors and defense lawyers settled on what the state called a middle ground.
Monday’s hearing focused less on whether the crime happened than on what punishment should follow it. Assistant State Attorney Ayana Duncan told the court that prosecutors refused to support a youthful-offender sentence because it was not severe enough, yet stopped short of pursuing immediate prison time through trial. Duncan said Paez had graduated from high school while on pretrial release and had nearly completed an associate degree in science. She also told the judge that behavioral and mental health treatment would be central to the sentence. In separate local reporting, Paez said in court that she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Those details gave the hearing an unusual shape: a murder-solicitation case argued partly through the lens of supervision, risk and whether treatment could be enforced outside prison.
The underlying facts remained stark. Police said the case began in July 2023 when Paez used rentahitman.com, a spoof site, to request that her son be killed before the end of the week. Investigators said she attached identifying details, including the child’s photo, the address where he could be found and contact information for herself. In the online form, authorities said, she wrote that she wanted “to get something done once and for all.” The site’s owner, Robert Innes, later said he sees many bogus submissions but alerted police because this one appeared real and verifiable. Detectives traced the request, found the child safe at his grandmother’s home and then had an officer pose as the would-be killer. According to police, Paez confirmed the request and agreed to pay $3,000.
Much of the public reaction to the case has centered on how someone accused of soliciting a child’s murder could avoid prison. Prosecutors answered part of that question in court by sketching a troubled family history. Duncan said Paez became a mother as a teenager and that the child may have resulted from an incestuous relationship. She said the father was not part of the child’s life and that the child’s maternal and paternal grandparents were the same people. Duncan also described Paez as unequipped for parenting and said a teenage romantic relationship may have become the immediate spark after the other teen broke things off upon learning she had a child. None of that erased the allegations, but it helped explain why the prosecution framed the sentence as punishment combined with strict monitoring.
The legal consequences remain heavy even without prison. Paez received a withhold of adjudication, according to NBC 6, so she is not being formally classified as a convicted felon under that plea arrangement. But the escape from felony adjudication came with a serious warning: any probation violation could expose her to as much as 40 years in prison. She must complete behavioral therapy, submit to a mental health assessment and follow any treatment ordered. Her parental rights have been terminated, and the child has been adopted by her mother. In practical terms, the sentence converted a once-shocking prosecution into a long compliance case, one that now turns on whether Paez follows court orders for more than a decade.
The boy’s path moved in the opposite direction, away from criminal proceedings and toward family court permanence. Early reporting showed that he was living with his grandmother when police first came to the house in 2023 and that dependency court quickly formalized custody. By sentencing, that temporary protection had become adoption. In the first days after the arrest, Paez’s father defended her publicly and said she had endured repeated surgeries, health problems and bullying. Those comments framed the family’s distress, but the court’s final order placed the child’s long-term stability above any effort at reunification. The no-contact term underscores that the criminal and child-welfare systems arrived at the same practical result: separation.
Where the case stands now is clear. The guilty plea is entered, the sentence is active, the child is no longer legally hers and the next turning point will come only if Paez violates probation or returns to court over treatment and supervision issues.
Author note: Last updated April 15, 2026.