Three of four Louisiana teenagers charged with murder for stealing a car and dragging a grandmother to death have reached a deal to avoid life in prison.
Briniyah Baker, 17, Lenyra Theophile, 16, and Mar’qel Curtis pleaded guilty to attempted manslaughter for killing Linda Frickey, 73, in New Orleans on Monday, 4 WWL reported.
The three teens received a 20-year prison sentence and will serve at least 15 years each.
The guilty plea comes more than a year after Frickey’s gruesome death, in which his arm was severed.
“I was relieved because that’s what we’ve been looking for all this time for justice,” Jinnylynn Griffin, Frickey’s sister, told the outlet.
Griffin said he feels “sadness” for the teens even though they take responsibility for his sister’s death.
Linda Frickey was murdered in March 2022 after teenagers kidnapped her in a New Orleans neighborhood, dragging her body, trapped by her seat belt, nearly a block until they cut off her arm.
“They probably didn’t want to do what they did, go as far as murder, but they were still trying to steal a car. “That is still a serious crime,” he told the outlet.
The three girls apologized to Frickey’s family in court and asked for forgiveness while in court.
“I think they were really sincere in their apology, and we appreciate that they admitted their guilt and accepted their punishment and hopefully, as time goes on, everyone can heal,” Frickey’s sister-in-law, Kathy Richard, told the outlet.
The three teens received a 20-year prison sentence and will serve at least 15 years each.WGNO-TV
However, the family will have to return to the courtroom to hear in detail about their loved one’s death, as a fourth defendant, 18-year-old John Honore, goes to trial.
“John Honore deserves no mercy,” Richard said. “We will give him the same mercy that he gave to Linda. None.”
“We want him to get the most. He was driving the car. He stomped on her,” Griffin said. “The girls were there for the trip, but the problem we had with them is that they didn’t do anything to stop it.”
The guilty plea comes more than a year after Frickey’s gruesome death, in which his arm was severed.WGNO-TV
All four defendants had been charged as adults with second-degree murder in connection with Frickey’s death after she was violently kidnapped in a New Orleans neighborhood and dragged for nearly a block after her arm became stuck. in the seat belt in March 2022.
With no regard for the grandmother’s life, the teens allegedly stopped the vehicle to open the door so Honore could kick the grandmother into the street after her arm came off and her clothing was removed.
Frickey was trying to put something in her car when the teens “jumped out and kicked her out, and she got stuck in the steering wheel,” a witness told WWL-TV at the time.
Teenagers violently kidnapped her in a New Orleans neighborhood in March 2022.WWLTV
“I heard screams like, ‘You’re about to die’!” said the witness.
Neighbor Leanne Mascar was walking in the area when she heard the screams and described the gruesome scene that followed to Fox 8.
“She was screaming and yelling to please let her go and then they slowed down and opened the door to kick her out,” Mascar said, adding that he “just started running” to help the grandmother.
“I thought if I could somehow, I don’t know what I could do, but I thought if I could get her out of this car… When I looked down, her body was already there, and her arm was… It’s just not something. you hope to see,” she said.
Frickey was dragged almost a block before her arm was ripped off and the teens kicked her out of the car.WWLTV
Mascar said she grabbed a sheet to cover Frickey after she was left on the road.
“She was there naked and I thought about the indignity she had just suffered; she was already too much.”
Her husband, Mark Mascar, was nearby during the horrific carjacking and rushed to his wife’s aid, telling the outlet that they sat “next to a woman who is a mother or grandmother and watched her fade away.”
“I was telling him to hold on because every time he heard a siren, he hoped and prayed it was the ambulance. I kept telling her to hold on, breathing, her eyes moving. She had never seen anything so horrible,” Mark added.
The fourth defendant, John Honore, 18, was not involved in the plea agreement and will go to trial for second-degree murder.WWLTV
Frickey’s gray truck was found that same day, 13 blocks from where she was left to die.
As the three teens plead guilty, the Frickey family hopes they use their long prison sentence as a moment to reflect.
“I don’t think they’ve really realized the impact of their actions and hopefully while they’re in jail, incarcerated, they get involved in programs to maybe help the next generation speak out and be an example that there are consequences for their lives. actions,” Richard said.
Honore’s trial begins Nov. 27.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn