Plea hearing set for Thursday for suspect in Daytona Beach throat slashing

The man accused of slashing a boy’s throat in Daytona Beach earlier this year is scheduled for a plea deal and sentencing.News 6 has learned exclusively from the state attorney’s office that Jermaine Long is scheduled for the hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday.This was a huge national story when the 13-year-old was attacked back in February on the Daytona Beach boardwalk.Police arrested Long for the random slashing. Long is a registered sex offender who had just been released from jail after prosecutors dropped the charges in another case.The boy was walking with his family on the boardwalk. He survived with 13 stitches to his throat, but his mom told News 6 in February that life and death was a matter of millimeters.It was not the only incident that happened that day.Police say Long also chased a man and hit him with a sledgehammer at a gas station just hours before the throat slashing incident. Long was not arrested, but was trespassed from the area.Your Volusia County Community Corresponden