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6-Month Sentence in Death of Amy Joyner-Francis

family photo

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A 17-year-old Delaware girl has been sentenced to 6 months in a juvenile facility for a school bathroom attack that left a 16-year-old classmate dead.
 
The girl was convicted by a Family Court judge in April in the death of Amy Joyner-Francis. On Monday, the judge gave her a 6-month term in a secure, residential treatment program.
 
A 17-year-old co-defendant who was convicted of conspiracy for helping plan the attack was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
 
An autopsy found that Joyner-Francis died of sudden cardiac death, aggravated by physical and emotional stress from the April 2016 fight at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington. The girl had a rare heart condition undetected by her doctors.
 
Defense attorneys argued that her death was unforeseeable.

     
 

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.