Teenager to be sentenced next month in stabbing of student

A Royal Palm Beach teenager who last year stabbed a classmate inside a school bathroom pleaded guilty Monday to three felonies.

Jose Decorcho, 17, will be sentenced March 27 by Circuit Judge Laura Johnson.

Decorcho has been prosecuted as an adult on the charges of attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon during commission of a felony, and possession of a weapon on school property.

These counts are punishable by a minimum of about eight years to as much as life in prison. Decorcho’s status as a juvenile will be considered in his punishment for what prosecutors said was a planned attack.

The Sun Sentinel is not identifying the 16-year-old victim — who was in the courtroom Monday — because of his age and the nature of the incident last May 25.

Palm Beach County School District police say Decorcho brought a folding pocketknife to school in his book bag, and stabbed his then-friend 15 times because he believed the friend was having sex with a girl he liked.

Decorcho told an investigator he knew which bathroom the student used during second hour, and followed him inside. He stabbed him in the neck from behind, according to an arrest report.

When the victim turned around, Decorcho continued to stab the other student until he fell to his back, grasping at the knife, the report said. Soon after, Decorcho dropped the blade and was arrested.

The defendant has been held in Palm Beach County Jail since June 14, unable to post a $250,000 bond.