15-year-old gets 3-9 years in stabbing death of 16-year-old Mount Vernon cheerleader Kayla Green
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Tuesday was sentencing day in the homicide of 16-year-old Kayla Green.
Green was stabbed to death by another teenage girl who was a cheerleader from a rival squad in Mount Vernon. The judge heard from the 15-year-old defendant and the victim's family.
Laverne Gordon spoke in court and after about the pain she will forever feel, losing her promising daughter.
"Her killer gets to get out in three years to live her life, to have family, to have a career. My daughter will never see that," Gordon said.
READ MORE: Funeral held for 16-year-old Kayla Green, teen who was stabbed to death in Mount Vernon
The incident happened in April of last year, right after Mount Vernon celebrated a basketball championship. Green, 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 on April 8.
The motive is difficult to comprehend.
"A long-standing rivalry between two cheerleading squads in the city of Mount Vernon," Judge Susan Cacace said.
Cacace said the defendant, who CBS2 is not identifying due to her age, had a history of violent conduct.
"This was an intentional, senseless and vicious intentional crime, which has caused immeasurable pain," prosecutor James Bavero said.
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 a statement through tears that said, "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 sentencing today, the healing process can begin for the victim's family and for the community, most specifically for the city of Mount Vernon," defense attorney Michael Borrelli said.
In handing down a sentence of three to nine years, Judge Cacace pointed to one hopeful sign, saying the defendant is "thriving in detention, perhaps on a path to make something of her life."