A 15-year-old cheerleader from Mount Vernon, New York was handed a prison sentence of between three to nine years for stabbing a 16-year-old cheerleader to death in April 2022.
The teen girl, whom police did not publicly identify because of her age, pleaded guilty to the charge of first-degree manslaughter in December for the fatal stabbing of Kayla Green, a sophomore at Mount Vernon High School.
The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office released a statement announcing that a judge had sentenced the teen to a prison term of not less than three years and not more than nine years.
The tragic stabbing incident occurred on April 8, 2022, after a parade held in the city to celebrate the boys’ basketball team’s victory in the state championship games.
According to the former School Superintendent for Mount Vernon, Kenneth Hamilton, a huge brawl involving some girls in the cheerleading squad followed the off-campus celebrations.
During the sentencing on Tuesday, January 24, Judge Susan Cacace said that the motive for the senseless killing was a longstanding rivalry between the two cheerleading squads.
Green was the captain of the Mount Vernon High School’s junior varsity cheerleading squad and was part of an independent cheerleading group.
Both girls had previously been members of the independent cheerleading squad called Supreme All Stars before Green left the squad to join the high school’s squad.
The 15-year-old girl stabbed Green in the stomach. Green was rushed to the hospital but later succumbed to her injuries.
Police arrested the teen later that night in Dobbs Ferry.
Another student got injured during the fight but survived. The District Attorney’s office had also charged the 15-year-old with assault of the other student but later dropped the charges.
The defendant spoke during her sentencing and tearfully apologized to the victim’s family for her actions. The Green family did not receive her apology well.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Green’s mother, Lavern Green, said her family was broken and would never mend.
Green’s aunt told reporters that the sentence was too lenient, saying three years for murder was too little. She said that in three years, the teen would be free to live her life while their loved one was robbed of her life.
Under New York law, the maximum sentence the judge could have given the teenager is three to ten years in prison.
The defendant will be jailed in a juvenile detention center until she reaches 18, and then the State Department of Corrections will take her into custody.
