3 teens charged in death of Howard High School student (2024)

The DOJ said only one girl physically hit Amy; they will push for her to be tried as an adult

Amy Inita Joyner-Francis, the 16-year-old fatally assaulted in the girls bathroom at Howard High School of Technology, did not die of injuries sustained in the beating, but froma pre-existing heart condition exacerbatedby the attack.

The stateAttorney General's Office is pushing to have one of three girls involved tried as an adult.Trinity Carr, 16,seen in a video punching Joyner-Francis in the head and chest, is charged with criminally negligent homicide, punishable by up to eightyears in prison.

The two other girls, Zion Snow and Chakeira Wright, will be charged with third-degreecriminal conspiracy, punishable by up to one year in prison.

Investigators determined the April 21 fight was a planned confrontation in the girl's bathroom, but only one girl– Carr– actually hit Amy, according to a statement by the Attorney General's Office.

The fight was filmed, according to court documents, and shows Carr hitting Amy repeatedly in the head and torso area with "what appears to be a closed fist."

The video shows Carr leave and Amy try to stand up;then Amy appears disoriented and collapses back onto the floor, the court documents show. When paramedics found her, she was unresponsive and shortly after went into cardiac arrest.

Communication between the three girlsshowed that they planned the assault in the 20 hours prior to the attack, according to court documents. The three girls followed Amy into the bathroom and then began the assault, court papers say.

Because neither of the other two girls hit Amy nor had prior arrests, they will be tried as juveniles in Family Court. Snow was released on $3,000 unsecured bail and home confinement. She was also issued a no contact order with social media andthe Joyner-Francis family, according to court documents.

An arraignmentfor Snow is scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 19.

Carr was released on $13,000 unsecured bail and put on home confinement. She also received a no contact order with social media, other girls charged, the Joyner-Francis family and possible witnesses.

The state Medical Examiner's Office played a large role in deciding on the charges, the Attorney General's Office said. Theautopsy determined Amy died of "sudden cardiac deathdue to large atrial septal defect with a contributing factor of physical and emotional stress due to physical assault."

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TIMELINE: Major events in the case

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An autopsy showed she did not die of blunt force trauma.

"In layman’s terms, the Medical Examiner determined that Amy died from a cardiac incident that she was vulnerable to because of a pre-existing heart condition, but the cardiac incident would not have occurred if she had not been assaulted," the statement reads.

Dr. George Moutsatsos, a New Castle County based cardiologist and president of Delaware’s branch of the American College of Cardiology, said an atrial septal defect is a hole in the wall that separates the top left and right chambers of the heart.The condition causes freshly oxygenated blood to mix with deoxygenated blood.

“You are really sending out very low oxygenated blood to the body which under stress needs a lot of oxygen,” Moutsatsos said.“She was a vulnerable person. She fell into the wrong circ*mstances and unfortunately no one knew this.”

The charges are a reflection of the "maximum degree permissible by Delaware law," according to the Attorney General's Office. All charges were reviewed with Amy's mother and older brother.

They come more than two weeks after the attack shook the city and state and gainednational attention. Wilmington police completed their investigation Thursday and turned over evidence to the Attorney's General Officeto determine the charges. Theirspokesman, Carl Kanefsky, said late Thursday the state intended to deliver charges promptly.

Judith Ritter, a professor at the Delaware Law School, said Carr's charge is a “low-level homicide.”

“What it comes down to is what would a reasonable person have recognized about the risk of death here,” she said.

Ritter said they were probably not charged with an intentional killing because a reasonable person doesn’t believe a fistfight is likely to cause death.

“It sounds like the facts may not support proof that the assailant, or assailants, intended to kill her,” Ritter said. “They probably intended to hurt her, but she died.”

While there was an outcry for immediate and swift punishment for the three girls shortly after Amy’s death, some local activists called the charges just.

“That sounds fair and balanced,” said Mahkeib Booker, who launched the local chapter of Black Lives Matter last year. Because there were no apparent signs that the girls intended to kill Amy, Booker said he would have had a problem with them being charged with first-degree murder.

“I used to jump the gun and say sentence them,” Booker said. “But I have to really look at their background and check their upbringing, who created the type of environment that would make them want to bully and beat people.”

Booker said the girls need to be punished, but it has to be an appropriate punishment.

“'Throw the bookis a typical response for those who act out of emotions,” said Ty Johnson, former president of Wilmington's Interdenominational Ministers Action Council.

Johnson said he is sure the girls did not intend to kill Amy.

“It’s not only their fault, we have failed,” he said. “Any time girls get into a bathroom and they begin to act out the way they did we have failed as a society. And we can and must do better.”

New Castle County Vo-Tech School District will "follow through with necessary actions for the students involved in the incident based on the school district's Code of Conduct," saidSuperintendent Vicki Gehrt in a statement Monday.

"Our responsibility is to follow school board policy and procedures for all students involved," she said. The school did not offer further comment.

Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams said in a statement Monday that the Howard High incident is a tragedy.

"From the beginning, the Wilmington Police Department and the Department of Justice worked hand-and-hand to determine the appropriate charges," he said."This is just the first step toward providing Amy’s family and our community with closure. As this process moves forward, I ask that we keep the family and loved ones of everyone involved in our thoughts and prayers.”

Friends and family described Joyner-Francis as a compassionate, soft-spoken student who always worked to disrupt violence and reduce fighting. Many said the sophom*ore at Howard High was never the type of girl to be caught up in high school drama. She was enrolled inthe dental assistant program.

In a bookmark-sized card handed out to those who attended Amy'smemorial service May 1 at St. Paul Union American Methodist Episcopal Churchin Wilmington, Joyner-Francis' mom described her as "extremely beautiful, so very thoughtful, awesomely intelligent, very, very talented and definitely one of a kind."

"You are simply marvelous my dear!!!" the memorial card read. "Hugs and smooches, you will be my heart always and forever, my beautiful sweetpea."

The family has not commented publicly on the attack and has not spoken directly with the media. Through various spokespeople representing them, the family has called for peace following Amy'sdeath, as well as an endto social media lies that spread viciously in the days following the assault. All other services honoring Amy were private.

Gyheim Fitzgerald, 17, lives across the street from Amy. Her death still troubles him, he said Monday.

"I was just hoping they caught them and hoping they got charged with something good," Fitzgerald said.

Dan Cooke, who lives across the street from Howard on Clifford Brown Walk and has a teenage son, said parents need to monitor their kids on social media. He said he regularly views his 14-year-old'sSnapChat and Instagram accounts.

Fake accounts on social media siteslike Twitter and Instagram impersonated people believed to be involved in the attack. Police did not confirm any photos or videos directly, but said theywere reviewing social media as part of the investigation.

“The social media is killing our kids,” Cooke said. “It starts at home, parents need to get more involved with what their children are doing.”

Carr “has to deal with this trauma the rest of her life," Cooke said, "but then again you have to be held responsible for what you do,” he said.

Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummingssaid in the week following the attack,investigatorshad more than 3,000 pages of data to review, as well as interviews and other forms on online communication.Experts said verifying social media accounts and determining the validity of posts, texts and other online communication can take weeks.

Ritter, the law professor, said while it may have taken police longer to go through the electronic communication, it also gives them insight into what the assailants may have been thinking.

"In some ways, it gives them some more evidence of what's in the mind of the defendants, which is usually hard to come by," she said.

In cases where criminal charges can be brought, investigators have an even tougher time connecting phone communication to specific incidents in order to prove premeditation or intent to harm, said Mike Harris,an investigatorwith the Colorado District Attorney's Office First Judicial District, who specializesin internet crimes.

"You need to tie it specifically to the incident and then tie the phone to them," Harris said. "Then there isthe secret language of emojis. ... It's very difficult and always changing."

"At a certain point with this technology, we have to take control as parents," he said. "Probably90 percentof kids sleep with technology."

Staff reporters Karl Baker,Adam Duvernayand Jen Rini contributed to this story.

Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.