The Latest: Teen gets probation in fire that killed friend

LOCKPORT, N.Y. (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of a 14-year-old boy for the death of a friend in massive arson fire at a New York recycling plant last summer (all times local):

5:25 p.m.

A 14-year-old New York boy has been sentenced to a year of probation for his role in a massive fire that trapped and killed his friend.

The boy also must undergo several months of inpatient psychiatric care as part of the sentence delivered Tuesday in Niagara County Family Court north of Buffalo.

A probation officer’s testimony this month revealed the teen has been in and out of the hospital with mental health issues and has tried to harm himself. He did not attend Tuesday’s daylong hearing.

The teen pleaded guilty in March to arson and burglary in connection with the death of 14-year-old Joe Phillips, who got trapped inside a tire recycling plant by the flames he helped set last August.

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1:15 p.m.

The sentencing of a 14-year-old boy for the death of his friend during a massive arson fire at a New York building is expected to go into a second day.

The proceeding in a family court outside Buffalo began Tuesday morning and is continuing into the afternoon. The attorney handling the case for Niagara County says the sentencing hearing is expected to resume Wednesday.

The teen pleaded guilty in March to arson and burglary in connection with the death of 14-year-old Joe Phillips, who got trapped inside a tire recycling plant by the flames he helped set last August. His friend got out safely.

Joe left a cellphone message for the other teen, frantically telling him, “I’m really stuck, dude” and “I’m … going to die.”

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12:06 a.m.

A teenager’s dying words are haunting a survivor’s sentencing in a massive New York building fire.

Fourteen-year-old Joe Phillips died in a blaze that spread out of control last summer after he and another teen began lighting fires inside a vacant building at a tire recycling plant in Lockport, near Buffalo. Joe became trapped in the flames and left a cellphone message for the other teen, frantically telling him, “I’m really stuck, dude” and “I’m … going to die.”

The surviving teen is now 14 and is set to be sentenced as a juvenile Tuesday. He pleaded guilty in March to arson and burglary as part of an agreement that erased a charge of criminally negligent homicide in his friend’s death. He could get 18 months in a detention facility.

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