😨 He Smiled And Laughed While Pleading Guilty In T...

😨 He Smiled And Laughed While Pleading Guilty In The Torture And Killing Of A 16-Year-Old Girl—Then Shocked The Court By Asking The Judge To Sentence Him To Death. ⚖️

A Florida man smiled and laughed in a Pinellas County courtroom this week as he pleaded guilty to his role in the torture and killing of a 16-year-old girl he met on a dating app, then asked a judge to sentence him to death.

Steven Gress, 37, entered the Pinellas County Justice Center on Wednesday with a visible smile. Facing charges connected to the death of Miranda Corsette, he told the court he preferred the death penalty over a lengthy prison term. “Life or death is a lose-lose,” he said, according to reports from the hearing. Chuckling, he added that he would rather face the “lesser time” than spend 53 years behind bars.

Gress admitted involvement in events that led to Corsette’s death but insisted he did not kill her. “I did not kill Miranda, but I was involved in certain things that led to her death,” he told the judge. He maintained that his partner, Michelle Brandes, was primarily responsible for the fatal acts and claimed the teenager essentially caused her own death by failing to remove plastic wrap from her face.

The case dates to Valentine’s Day 2025. Gress met the 16-year-old on a dating app and lured her to his apartment in St. Petersburg. Brandes was already there. Over the following days the pair subjected Corsette to prolonged beatings, torture and sexual assault. The stated motive, according to statements attributed to Gress, centered on a ring he claimed she had stolen.

A neighbor who saw the girl at the apartment later recalled Gress saying, “This little bi*** stole my ring and won’t give it back, so I’ve been beating her ass.” Multiple witnesses, including Gress’s own mother, told investigators that he sent them photographs of Corsette naked, bruised and in a visibly deteriorating condition during the period she was held at the apartment.

According to Gress’s account to police and the court, Brandes eventually forced a billiards ball down the teenager’s throat and then covered her face with plastic wrap. Gress claimed that when he discovered what had happened he tried to poke holes in the wrap to allow her to breathe, but Corsette was already dead. In court he went further, arguing that she had been free to remove the plastic herself. “I would like to say that I do believe that she killed herself,” he said. “I say that because she had the Saran wrap on her face, but she was free to pull it off her face.”

Authorities believe Corsette was killed sometime between February 20 and February 24, 2025. After her death, Gress used a chainsaw to dismember her body. The remains were later abandoned in a dumpster in neighboring Hillsborough County.

By pleading guilty, Gress waived his right to a jury trial for the guilt phase. He also waived a jury for the penalty phase, meaning a judge will decide whether to impose the death sentence he has requested. A pretrial hearing related to the penalty phase is scheduled for November. Brandes, who faces her own charges, has a pretrial hearing set for October.

The courtroom scene struck many observers as particularly chilling. Gress’s smile and laughter while discussing the death penalty and the circumstances of a teenage girl’s prolonged abuse and killing stood in stark contrast to the gravity of the crimes. Prosecutors and investigators have presented a narrative of calculated luring, extended captivity, physical and sexual violence, and the subsequent disposal of the body. Gress’s partial admissions and attempts to shift primary blame onto Brandes and even onto the victim herself have done little to soften the documented details of what occurred inside the St. Petersburg apartment.

Miranda Corsette was 16 years old. She had connected with Gress through a dating app, an interaction that quickly turned into a week of unimaginable suffering. The photographs he allegedly shared with others captured her declining condition and provided key evidence of the abuse. The neighbor’s recollection of Gress’s casual explanation for the beatings offered a further window into the mindset of the man who brought her to the apartment.

Florida law allows for the death penalty in cases involving especially heinous, atrocious or cruel murders. Gress’s request for that sentence, paired with his claim that a life term would feel longer, has added an unusual layer to the proceedings. Judges rarely encounter defendants who actively lobby for their own execution while simultaneously minimizing their responsibility for the fatal acts. The November penalty-phase hearing will give the court an opportunity to weigh the full record, including the guilty plea, the evidence of prolonged torture, the dismemberment, and Gress’s own statements.

Brandes remains a central figure in the case. Gress has consistently pointed to her as the person who delivered the final, fatal actions. Her own legal proceedings will unfold on a separate track, with the October pretrial date marking the next formal step. The two defendants’ accounts of the week Corsette spent in the apartment are likely to be examined closely as both cases move forward.

For the family and friends of Miranda Corsette, the guilty plea brings a measure of legal resolution on one defendant’s role while reopening the horror of what their loved one endured. The details that emerged in court — the dating-app lure, the week-long captivity, the beatings justified by a missing ring, the graphic photographs, the billiards ball and plastic wrap, and the chainsaw dismemberment — form a catalogue of cruelty that is difficult to comprehend.

Gress’s demeanor in the courtroom has become part of the public record of the case. Smiling as he entered, laughing as he discussed the death penalty, and offering a version of events that sought to distance himself from the act of killing itself, he presented a portrait of a man seemingly untroubled by the weight of his admissions. Whether that performance influences the judge’s ultimate sentencing decision remains to be seen.

The case continues to move through the Pinellas County courts. Gress has accepted responsibility for his involvement to the extent of entering a guilty plea and asking for death. Brandes faces her own charges and her own timeline. Between them lies the short, brutal chapter of a 16-year-old girl’s final days — a chapter that began with a message on a dating app and ended in a Hillsborough County dumpster. The legal system will now determine the precise consequences for the man who laughed while requesting the ultimate penalty.