The lawyer representing the teen girl facing homicide charges for the death of 16-year-old Delaware high school student Amy Joyner says his client had no way of knowing that the fight would kill her.
It was announced earlier this week that the lone girl who struck Amy during the fight will be charged with criminally negligent homicide, but her attorney John Deckers believes the charges are too harsh because he says his client had no knowledge of Amy’s heart condition that was triggered during the fight and ultimately killed her.
Teens Involved in Amy Joyner’s Death Have Been Charged and Face Jail Time
“The altercation was between two teens who knowingly and willingly entered the bathroom for that purpose,” Deckers said in a statement to the Associated Press on Tuesday. “The possible consequence – that a consensual fight, involving no blunt force injuries, could ever result in death due to an unknown, pre-existing medical condition – was entirely unapparent to either girl.”
The lawyer went on to emphasize that the fight between the girls was supposedly “consensual.”
#RIPAmy: Everything We Know About The 16-Year-Old’s Death Following A School Fight
“A teenager has no way of reasonably perceiving or anticipating that death might occur in this type of a consensual confrontation – something which otherwise appeared to be a not uncommon, although ugly and regrettable, fight between two school girls,” he added.
The teen girl facing the homicide charge was released on $13,000 bail and is reportedly under home confinement, with strict orders to avoid contact with the others involved in the attack, stay off of social media and continue with counseling while awaiting trial. The other two teens, who reportedly watched the fight but did not hit Amy, face misdemeanor conspiracy charges and are also at home.
The names of the girls are not being released because they are minors.
It was revealed on Monday that Amy died after going into cardiac arrest as a result of complications from her heart condition caused by physical and emotional stress endured during the fight.
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