Emotions were heightened in a Westchester County, New York courtroom on Tuesday as a judge sentenced a 15-year-old cheerleader to three to nine years behind bars.
That's after she pleaded guilty to the stabbing death of 16-year-old Kayla Green, a member of a rival cheerleading squad in Mount Vernon.
Lavern Gordon spoke in court of the pain she will forever feel after losing her promising daughter, Kayla.
"Her killer gets to get out in three years to live her life, have [a] family, have a career, my daughter will never see that," said Lavern.
It was April last year right after Mount Vernon celebrated a basketball championship.
Kayla, a school cheerleader, was attacked after the rally by a 15-year-old armed with a knife that she had shown off on social media earlier on April 8.
The motive is difficult to comprehend.
"A long-standing rivalry between two cheerleading squads in the city of Mount Vernon," said Judge Susan Cacace.
Judge Cacace said the defendant had a history of violent conduct.
"This was an intentional, senseless and vicious intentional crime which caused immeasurable pain," said prosecutor James Bavero.
Prosecutors say there's no way to truly understand what set the defendant on her deadly path.
The 15-year-old did express remorse, reading the following statement through tears: "I think of all the different choices I could have made that day that would have left Kayla alive and saved her family this heartache. But that is why everyone is here today, because I made bad choices."
"Hopefully with our client's sentence here today, the healing process can begin for the victim's family, the community, specifically the city of Mount Vernon," said defense attorney Michael Borrelli.
The judge pointed to a hopeful sign, saying the 15-year-old has been thriving in detention and hopes she is on a path to make something of her life.
