One of the three teenagers accused of being involved in the death of Tessa Majors has been sentenced to 18 months after pleading guilty to robbery.
The 14-year-old, who was 13 when Majors was killed, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in the custody of New York's Administration for Children's Services, six of which must be in a secure facility. After the six months, his case will be reevaluated to determine where he will spend the rest of his sentence, according to UPI.
The 14-year-old, whom the Washington Examiner is not identifying because he is a minor and was not charged as an adult, admitted his involvement in the Dec. 11 robbery of Majors, an 18-year-old freshman at Barnard College in New York. Majors, an aspiring artist and musician, was stabbed multiple times during the incident and was discovered by a security guard in Manhattan's Morningside Park. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
As part of the teenager’s plea agreement, he admitted that he handed his accomplice a knife that was then used to stab Majors. The boy recalled seeing feathers from Majors’s coat come out when his friend stabbed her. The teenager’s lawyers claimed he had a limited role in the attack.
“He did not touch Ms. Majors or take any of her property. Furthermore, no DNA evidence exists linking him to the events,” they said in a statement. “His acceptance of responsibility is an important first step; it provides an opportunity for this now 14-year-old to achieve a successful future.”
Majors’s family pushed back the teenager’s plea in a victim impact statement and said he “has shown a complete lack of remorse or contrition for his role in the murder of Tess Majors.”
“By his own admission, the respondent picked up a knife that had fallen to the ground and handed it to an individual who then used it to stab Tess Majors to death,” the statement added. “The family can’t help but wonder what would have happened if that knife had been left on the ground.”
The two other teenagers, Rashaun Weaver and Luciano Luis, both now 15, have been charged as adults with second-degree murder and robbery.