Girl, 13, who shot dead 16-year-old girl at Memphis home charged with reckless homicide
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: A 13-year-old girl was charged with reckless homicide after a 16-year-old girl was fatally shot in Memphis. The shooting took place at a home in the 2700 block of Curtis Street, Parkway Village in Memphis, Tennessee, around 8 pm on November 21.
Officers discovered a 16-year-old victim with a gunshot wound when they reached the scene. According to WHBQ, the girl was brought to the hospital in a severe condition. She later died as a result of her serious wounds, said Memphis police. Due to the fact that they are both minors, the suspect and the victim have not been named.
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The investigation revealed that the victim was inside the residence w/ friends when the shooting occurred. One of the friends, a female,13, was among other juveniles while passing around a gun. The gun fired & hit the victim. The female,13, has been charged w/ Reckless Homicide.
— Memphis Police Dept (@MEM_PoliceDept) November 24, 2022
The victim was in a home with friends when the incident happened, according to an MPD tweet from early on Thursday. The 13-year-old girl and other juveniles were passing a gun around. The gun then went off, striking the victim. No other details have been made public.
A similar story from Tennessee was reported recently where Tyshon Booker was found guilty by a Knox County jury of first-degree felony murder and particularly aggravated robbery. When Booker committed these acts, he was 16 years old. The trial judge gave Booker a mandatory 60-year life sentence for the murder conviction, which necessitates serving at least 51 years behind bars. The trial judge did not take Booker’s youth or any other factors into account. Along with his life term, Booker was given a 20-year sentence for the robbery conviction. The convictions and sentence were upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeals.
According to the Tennessee Supreme Court, the state's mandatory life in-prison term for juvenile homicide offenders violates the juvenile’s rights as guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment and is therefore cruel and unusual punishment. The juvenile was given a parole hearing after serving between 25 and 36 years in prison so that his age and other factors may be taken into account, but the Court narrowly decided not to alter the child’s sentence, according to reports from TNcourt.gov
For a single juvenile offense, no other state imposes a mandatory term of more than 50 years. Juvenile killers are eligible for parole or get sentences of 25 years or less in about half of the states, while nearly three-quarters of the states enable release eligibility in fewer than 35 years.