Three girls have been charged in the death of Amy Inita Joyner-Francis. 16 year old Amy of New Castle, Delaware was jumped by her friends, including Trinity Carr, Chakeira Wright, and Zion Snow on April 21st. The attack happened in the girls bathroom of Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, Delaware.
Media outlets reported the fight started over a boy,which lead to Amy’s boyfriend Dan being cyberbullied and receiving death threats by the thousands. I reported straight from the friends of Trinity, Chakeira and Zion the fight actually started over Chakeira and Zion telling Trinity that Amy was talking bad about Trinity. Chakeira and Zion sent a message to Trinity in a group text, encouraging her to confront Amy the next day.
Now, two more of Amy’s friends, Shytera Dawkins and Kayla Futrell, confirmed my story to Delaware Online. The two spoke to Amy Wednesday night before her attack Thursday morning. Amy was warned she would be jumped, but told Shytera and Kayla she was going in the bathroom “to settle the beef”. Shytera and Kayla assured news reporters the fight had nothing to do with Amy’s boyfriend, Dan. It’s important in cases like this for media outlets to report all accurate information we find so to not cause victims’ families more distress and to not endanger the lives of innocent people, such as the teenage boy Amy was dating.
16 year old Trinity Carr is charged with criminally negligent homicide. Her friends who instigated and planned the attack, 16 year olds Zion Snow and Chakeira Wright are both charged with third degree criminal conspiracy, the highest level of criminal conspiracy allowed by law.
Both Zion and Chakeira will be charged as juveniles and face up to one year in prison. Trinity, however, will be tried as an adult and faces 8 years imprisonment.
Though Chakeira and Zion instigated the fight and planned the confrontation, the blame for the actual assault is being placed on Trinity, who’s seen in the video punching Amy as Amy tried to stand to her feet:
“[…] All of the evidence indicates that although three girls were involved in planning a confrontation with Amy on April 21, only one girl – Trinity Carr – actually hit Amy. Therefore, the charges against two of the three girls involved in the incident do not involve actually striking Amy, ” says the statement released by Department of Justice.
“Because neither Snow nor Wright have any prior juvenile arrests or convictions, and because they did not physically assault Amy, they will be tried as juveniles in Family Court.”
Although all girls involved are minors, they must be held accountable for Amy’s death, says officials:
“The individuals responsible for Amy Joyner-Francis’s death are minors, but they must be held accountable for their actions. DOJ’s goal in making a charging decision was to ensure that those persons responsible for Amy’s death are held responsible to the maximum degree permissible by Delaware law.”
According to the DOJ, the cause of Amy’s death was “sudden cardiac death” stemming from Amy’s heart defect of having a hole in her heart. However, Trinity is still at fault:
“[…] The Medical Examiner’s office has ruled that Amy’s cause of death was sudden cardiac death due to large atrial septal defect with a contributing factor of physical and emotional stress due to physical assault.”
“The autopsy did not detect any internal injuries or significant blunt force injuries. 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.”
While Amy’s family try to come to peace with what’s happened, they’ve asked supporters of Amy to not donate money to scammers online. Scammers have created fake GoFundMe pages and online fundraisers, claiming to be raising money for Amy’s family. In a statement released by Amy’s brother, he says the Joyner family has not nor will they ever beg for donations. Anyone asking for money is not speaking for the Joyner family.
#RipAmy