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The 15-year-old defendant implicated in the stabbing death of 16-year-old Kayla Green has been sentenced to three to nine years in a New York prison.
According to a statement from Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, the female minor was sentenced on January 24 after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter for stabbing the popular cheerleader to death. In New York, the sentence for manslaughter by a juvenile is three ⅓ to 10 years in prison.
District Attorney Miriam Rocah expressed her sentiment on the 15-year-old girl’s sentencing, saying, “A teenage defendant senselessly took the life of Kayla Green, and in doing so, left a community devastated. As a family and the Mount Vernon community remain in mourning, I want to reiterate my commitment to working with our vital community partners for meaningful violence prevention and intervention, especially for our youth.”
“I know that nothing can cure the pain of losing a child. My office will do what it can within the bounds of New York’s laws to seek accountability in these cases,” she concluded.
Kayla’s family felt that justice wasn’t served in her tragic death. The family’s attorney also lambasted Mt. Vernon’s school district, implying that the district didn’t do enough to protect students.
“Her killer gets to get out in three years to live her life, to have a family, to have a career. My daughter will never see that,” her mother, Laverne Gordon,
said.“They were fully aware of what this woman, this young lady, was doing inside of that school, and it was a danger to every young person who was in that school, and they did nothing,” Lauren Raysor expressed.
On April 8, Kayla’s life was tragically snuffed out by the minor at a parade in Westchester County after the Mt. Vernon High School’s boy’s varsity basketball team won a championship. The cheerleader and squad captain had been fighting with a group of teenage girls when the delinquent stabbed her and another girl. Kayla was taken to Jacobo Medical Center, where she succumbed to her injuries.
According to Laverne, the convicted killer boasted about murdering her beloved daughter on social media.
At the time of Kayla’s murder, Mt. Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard offered her condolences to the cheerleader’s family, “I am devastated and completely outraged. We began our day celebrating the greatness and success of our youth, and we ended it with a young life that has been taken by senseless and inexcusable violence. The mental, emotional and spiritual health of our community, especially of our children, must be the priority, and we must come together. As a community, our common unity must be the safety and healthy development of our young people. Our heartfelt prayers and condolences go out to the family, friends and the entire community of Mount Vernon.”