Alex was 12 and Derek, 13, when their father died. Prosecutors said the King boys did it. They killed their father, bludgeoned him with a baseball bat as he slept in a recliner.

But in another courtroom in the same city, the same state attorney’s office presented another theory about Terry King’s death and charged that 41-year-old Ricky Chavis killed Alex’s and Derek’s dad with the bat.

If we thought the presidential election made Flori-duh a national laughingstock, this Pensacola murder case should make us all cry.

One crime – two trials in which prosecutors presented contradictory theories as to what happened and who did it. Shameful.

One jury convicted the boys of second-degree murder, carrying 20 years to life in prison, plus 30 years for arson. Jurors later said they believed Chavis had wielded the bat, but they had no choice but to follow the law and hand the boys a second-degree conviction for admitting their complicity in letting Chavis into the house.

A separate jury earlier acquitted Chavis of first-degree murder even though the boys’ jury was presented evidence it believed proved Chavis was guilty.

Neither jury knew what the other was doing.

Clear-thinking people cheered when Circuit Judge Frank Bell tossed out the brothers’ convictions last month. The judge chastised prosecutors for violating the boys’ rights and called their legal shenanigans “unusual and bizarre.” He then ordered mediation, and last week the boys pleaded guilty to reduced charges – this time third-degree murder and arson, for setting fire to the house after King was killed. Derek was sentenced to eight years and Alex to seven.

These boys should never have been tried as adults to begin with, but in Florida that’s all too common. This state leads the nation in the number of children prosecuted as adults, and for black kids the sentences have been tougher than what the King boys got. A pattern?

Nathaniel Brazill, 13 when he shot his teacher to death two years ago, was sentenced to 28 years in prison. Lionel Tate, 12, was sentenced to life without parole for body-slamming a 6-year-old neighbor in 1999.

Children of any race who commit horrendous crimes – and it’s still unclear who did what in the King case even if the boys did “confess” in the plea – must face the consequences of their behavior. I don’t excuse what they did, but they are not emotionally mature enough to be held to the same standard as adults.

The King case screams out injustice for the tactics the prosecutors used.

Chavis, a convicted child molester, is off the hook on the murder charge, but he remains in jail for accessory after the fact to murder, evidence tampering and sexually molesting Alex. A trial will determine his fate.

Justice dictates that the boys’ mother try to appeal this latest conviction.

This case gives new meaning to “beyond a reasonable doubt.” It’s beyond comprehension.

If what happened to the boys wasn’t a violation of their basic constitutional rights, then we might as well all move to China and start attending show trials and demand hangings for fun.

The boys’ mother, who had left them in their father’s care several years ago, asked the judge to allow the boys to undergo psychological screening before entering a plea. Particularly since there was evidence presented at trial that the boys, in and out of foster homes, had been abused for a long time.

No kidding that they need psychological help. Absentee mother, a father who couldn’t always care for them and a convicted sexual predator serving as “friend of the family.”

But, hey, let’s try these boys like they’re real men. That’s the Florida way.

“This is not right,” Kelly Marino said later about her sons’ dire straits. “This is America. Unbelievable.”

Believe it. This is Flori-duh.

– Myriam Marquez is an editorial page columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. Her e-mail address is mmarquez@orlandosentinel.com.