25 January 2023 , 12:52
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A teenager will spend up to nine years in prison after she fatally stabbed a 16-year-old cheerleader during a school celebration.
The 15-year-old girl, who has not been named, was on Tuesday handed a sentence of three to nine years in prison by a judge after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in December, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office said.
The teenager stabbed Kayla Green during a huge brawl after a parade in Mount Vernon, New York State, US, marking the state championship won by the high school boys' basketball team.
The incident, which happened in Westchester last April, stemmed from a cheerleading rivalry.
Ms Green was a sophomore and the captain of her school's junior varsity cheerleading squad.
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Her attacker was part of an independent cheer club, which Green had been a past member of.
Ms Green was knifed in the stomach and tragically pronounced dead after she was taken to the hospital, prosecutors said.
She was a sophomore and the captain of her school's junior varsity cheerleading squad (lavern_foreverblessed/Instagram)In court on Tuesday, Judge Susan Cacace spelled out the motive, which she described as a "long-standing rivalry" between two cheer squads in the city of Mount Vernon.
The defendant apologised in court before her sentence was determined, claiming she was "sorry" her actions took away a big sister and a daughter and admitting she made "bad choices".
Local news outlet Lohud reported that Ms Green's relatives believed the defendant's sentence and apology were insufficient and argued she would be out of prison in a short time.
“Her killer gets to get out in three years to live her life, to have family, to have a career. My daughter will never see that,” the victim’s mother Laverne Gordon said.
The brawl broke out soon after the celebration to recognise the basketball team's 12th state title.
Mimi Rocah, District Attorney, said the fatal stabbing "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," she said,
The maximum sentence the defendant could have received was 3 to 10 years - as a juvenile offender in New York - the district attorney's office noted.
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She would serve her time as a juvenile detention centre until she was 18, when she would be taken into custody by the state's Department of Corrections.