Girl, 14, sentenced to life after stabbing best friend at sleepover
A 14-year-old girl has been ordered to spend 25 years in state custody after a Texas jury found her guilty in the fatal stabbing of her best friend.
The court heard that four girls had been enjoying a pool party at an apartment complex in Fort Worth earlier in the day but at 3.30am, when victim Nylah Lightfoot said she wanted to go home, an argument broke out.
Prosecutors say Nylah’s friend, who was 13 at the time, stabbed her in the neck and chest after a fight.
Nylah was taken to the hospital but did not survive.
On the witness stand, the accused girl said the killing was an accident.
“I didn’t mean to kill her. She ran up on me. It was the worst mistake of my life.”
One day after the Tarrant County jury returned its verdict, the sentence was handed down to Nylah’s killer.
She could have received anything from probation to 40 years in state custody. A judge will determine whether to move the girl to an adult prison at age 19. Her name has not been released because of her age.
Bishop Mark Kirtland, a family friend of the Lightfoot family, said the entire community had been impacted by the tragedy.
“Both families are devastated,” he said. “It affects our whole village. So that’s where we are today.”
– with Associated Press
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