Three of the four Louisiana teenagers charged with murder for carjacking and dragging a grandmother to her death – have taken plea deals to avoid life in prison.
Briniyah Baker, 17, Lenyra Theophile, 16, and Mar’qel Curtis pleaded guilty to attempted murder for killing 73-year-old Linda Frickey in New Orleans on Monday, 4 WWL reported.
The three teenagers were sentenced to 20 years in prison and will serve at least 15 years each.
The guilty plea came more than a year after Frickey’s gruesome death, in which his arm was also severed.
“I’m relieved because that’s what we’ve been doing all this time for justice,” Jinnylynn Griffin, Frickey’s sister, told the outlet.
Griffin said he felt “sorrow” for the teenagers even though they were responsible for his sister’s death.
Linda Frickey was killed in March 2022 after the teenager carjacked her in a New Orleans neighborhood, dragging her seatbelt-entangled body nearly a block until her arm was severed.
“They may not want to do what they do, like murder, but they still try to steal cars. That is still a crime,” he told the outlet.
The three girls apologized to the Frickey family in court and begged for forgiveness while in court.
“I think they’re really sincere in their apology, and we appreciate that they’re admitting their wrongdoing and accepting their punishment and hopefully as time goes on, everyone can heal,” Frickey’s sister-in-law Kathy Richard told the outlet.
The three teenagers were sentenced to 20 years in prison and will serve at least 15 years each. WGNO-TV
However, the family will have to return to the courtroom to hear about their loved one’s death in detail as a fourth defendant, John Honore, 18, goes on trial.
“John Honore deserves no mercy,” said Richard. “We will give him the same mercy he gave Linda. None.”
“We want him to get the maximum. He drives a car. He stepped on it,” Griffin said. “The girls, they were all there for the ride, but the issue we had with them was that they didn’t do anything to stop it.”
The guilty plea came more than a year after Frickey’s gruesome death, in which his arm was also severed.WGNO-TV
All four defendants have been charged as adults with second-degree murder in connection with Frickey’s death after they violently abducted him in a New Orleans neighborhood and dragged him nearly a block after his arm got caught in his seat belt in March 2022.
Without regard for the grandmother’s life, the teenager reportedly stopped the vehicle to open the door so Honore could kick the grandmother into the street after her arm was detached and her clothes stripped.
Frickey was trying to get something into his car when the teenager “jumped in and kicked him out, and he got stuck in the wheel pretty well,” an eyewitness told WWL-TV at the time.
The teenager violently kidnapped her in a New Orleans neighborhood in March 2022.WWLTV
“I heard screams, like, ‘You’re going to die’ screams!” the witness said.
Neighbor Leanne Mascar was walking in the area when she heard the screams, and described the horrific scene that followed Fox 8.
“She was screaming, and she was screaming for help to let her go and then they slowed down and opened the door to kick her out,” said Mascar – adding he “just started running” to help the grandmother.
“I thought if I could somehow, I don’t know what I could do, but I thought if I could get him out of this car … When I looked down his body was already there, and his arm … It was not something that you expect to see,” he said.
Frickey was dragged nearly a block before his arm was torn off and the teenager kicked him from the car.WWLTV
Mascar said he grabbed a cloth to cover Frickey after he was left on the road.
“He lay naked there, and I thought of the humiliation he suffered; that’s too much.”
Her husband, Mark Mascar, was nearby during the horrific carjacking and rushed to his wife’s aid, telling the store they were sitting “next to a woman who was a mother or a grandmother and watched her disappear.”
“I told him to hang in there because every time I heard a siren, I hoped and prayed it was an ambulance. I kept telling him to hang in there, breathing, his eyes moving. I have never seen anything so horrible,” added Mark.
A fourth defendant, John Honore, 18, was not involved in the plea deal and will be tried for second-degree murder.WWLTV
Frickey’s gray SUV was found later that day, 13 blocks from where he was left for dead.
With the three teenage girls pleading guilty, the Frickey family hopes they will use their long prison sentences as time for reflection.
“I don’t think they really realize the impact of their actions and hopefully while they’re in prison, incarcerated, they get involved in a program to maybe help the next generation to speak up and be an example that there are consequences for you. action,” said Richard.
Honore’s trial begins on Nov. 27.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
