Three Delaware teenagers charged in fatal school beating of classmate
(Reuters) - Three high school girls in Delaware are facing criminal charges over the fatal beating of a classmate inside a school bathroom last month, authorities said on Monday.
Amy Joyner-Francis, a 16-year-old sophomore at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, Delaware, died following an early-morning fight on April 22, in an incident that drew national headlines.
The state Department of Justice said it had charged Trinity Carr, 16, with criminally negligent homicide and would seek to have her tried as an adult. She faces up to eight years in prison.
Carr was the only girl to strike Amy, though all three girls planned the confrontation, according to the department.
The other two girls, Zion Snow and Chakeira Wright, have been charged with criminal conspiracy, which carries up to one year in prison. They will be tried as juveniles.
An autopsy concluded that Joyner-Francis died from a "cardiac incident" that stemmed from a pre-existing heart condition but was brought on by the stress of the attack, according to the department.
"The cardiac incident would not have occurred if she had not been assaulted," the Department of Justice said in a statement.
It was not immediately known whether the three defendants had been arrested or had retained defense lawyers.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Sandra Maler)
