MIAMI A 14-year-old Florida boy sentenced to life in prison for a crime he committed at the age of 12 has appealed to Governor Jeb Bush for clemency, AFP quoted his lawyers as saying on Friday.

Lionel Tate, who was convicted as an adult for killing a six-year-old girl while imitating professional wrestlers, has filed a petition with Bush, the younger brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, his lawyer Richard Rosenbaum said.

Rosenbaum declined further comment, referring all comments to the governor's office, which was unavailable Friday.

A state commission will hear Tate's clemency request on June 14.

A jury in Broward County (north of Miami) on January 25 found Tate guilty of premeditated murder, forcing the judge to dole out the mandatory life sentence.

Judge Joel Lazarus, who called Tate's actions "cold, callous and indescribably cruel," sentenced him in March, making him one of the youngest Americans ever to face life in prison without parole.

Tate is one of three Florida juveniles to be tried on first degree murder charges in recent months.

Nathaniel Brazill, 14, who shot his teacher at the age of 13, was found guilty of second-degree murder in a case that ended last month. He will be sentenced at the end of June to something less than a life sentence on the lesser charge.

In March, 15-year-old John Silva was sentenced to life in prison for strangling to death a 12-year-old friend and dumping his body into an abandoned septic tank.

Also, Tronneal Mangum, who was convicted of fatally shooting a seventh grader over a wristwatch in 1997, has been incarcerated since then with adult prisoners.

In efforts to deal with the greater number of juveniles incarcerated in the adult penal system in Florida, the State House of Representatives in May unanimously passed a bill to direct the state's Department of Corrections to house minors separately from other inmates until the age of 18.

Governor Bush still has the power to veto the bill.