North Texas teen given 20-year sentence for murdering 6-year-old cousin with baseball bat
A 15-year-old boy was sentenced Friday to 20 years in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department for killing his 6-year-old cousin, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office said in a news release Friday.
Juvenile Court Judge Alex Kim sentenced the teen, whose name is not being released because he is still a minor, for capital murder.
On Aug. 18, 2021, the teen — who was 12 at the time — smashed his 6-year-old cousin Isabella Courtney’s head with a baseball bat outside her River Oaks home, authorities said.
Police responded to a call about an injured person that evening at the home in the 1800 block of Melba Court in River Oaks.
Authorities unsuccessfully administered medical aid to the girl, the release said. Courtney was taken to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, where she was pronounced dead.
The teen admitted that he killed his cousin and asked the judge to determine his sentence, the district attorney’s office said in the release.
Tarrant County Assistant District Attorneys Lee Sorrells and Jessica Theriot prosecuted the case. DA Investigators Esther Goodwin, Benjamin Lopez and Jose Fonseca worked on the case along with River Oaks police.
