Brittany Horn

The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

WILMINGTON, Del. — The state Department of Justice on Monday charged three girls in connection with the deadly assault of 16-year-old Amy Inita Joyner-Francis, an honor roll student killed on April 21 in a Howard High School of Technology bathroom. An autopsy revealed she had a pre-existing heart defect, officials said.

Investigators determined that the fight was a planned confrontation in the girl's bathroom, but only one girl — 16-year-old Trinity Carr — actually hit Amy that day, according to a statement by the DOJ. The fight was filmed, according to court documents, and shows Carr hitting Amy repeatedly in the head and torso area with "what what appears to be a closed fist."

The video then shows Carr leave and Amy attempt to stand up from the floor, according to court documents. Amy then appears disoriented, court papers say, and collapses back to the floor. When paramedics found her, she was unresponsive and went into cardiac arrest shortly after.

Girl killed in bathroom 'didn't believe in fighting,' friends say

Carr will be charged with criminally negligent homicide, punishable by up to eight years in prison. Due to the severity of her offense, the DOJ will push to try her as an adult in Superior Court, officials said.

Two other girls, Zion Snow and Chakeira Wright, will be charged with third-degree criminal conspiracy in connection with the assault, punishable by up to one year in prison, according to the DOJ.

Communication, both written and oral, between the three girls showed that they planned the assault in the 20 hours before the attack, according to court documents. The three girls followed Amy into the bathroom and then began the assault, court papers say.

Because neither girl hit Amy nor had prior arrests of convictions, they will be tried as juveniles in Family Court, according to the DOJ.

The state Medical Examiner's Office also played a large role in the charging, according to the DOJ, as an autopsy determined Amy died of "sudden cardiac death due to large atrial septal defect with a contributing factor of physical and emotional stress due to physical assault." An autopsy showed she did not die of blunt force trauma 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," the statement reads.

The charges are a reflection of the "maximum degree permissible by Delaware law," according to the DOJ, and all charges were reviewed with the mother and older brother of Amy Joyner-Francis.

The warrants come more than two weeks after the brutal attack which garnered national attention and shook the local community. Wilmington police completed their investigation Thursday and turned over evidence to the DOJ to determine the charges. DOJ spokesman Carl Kanefsky said late Thursday the state intended to deliver charges promptly.

Family of girl killed in Del. school: Stop social media lies

Wilmington police Chief Bobby Cummings did not address the Howard High incident at a public safety meeting Monday night but said after the meeting that the police department would continue to aid the Attorney General's office in preparation for the trial.

"I know the Department of Justice released a press statement indicating the individuals were arrested," he said. "I have not had an opportunity to go through that yet, so I don't have many more comments other than I have agreed with the Attorney General we would not make any additional statements."

The New Castle County Vo-Tech School District will "follow through with necessary actions for the students involved in the incident based on the school district's Code of Conduct," said Superintendent Vicki Gehrt in a statement Monday.

"Our responsibility is to follow school board policy and procedures for all students involved," she said. The school did not offer further comment.

Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams said in a statement Monday that the Howard High incident is a tragedy.

From the beginning, the Wilmington Police Department and the Department of Justice "worked hand-and-hand to determine the appropriate charges," he said. "This is just the first step toward providing Amy’s family and our community with closure. As this process moves forward, I ask that we keep the family and loved ones of everyone involved in our thoughts and prayers.”

Friends and family described Joyner-Francis as a compassionate, soft-spoken student who always worked to disrupt violence and reduce fighting. Many said the sophomore at Howard High was never the type of girl to be caught up in high school drama. She was enrolled in the dental assistant program.

In a bookmark-sized card handed out to those who attended Amy's memorial service May 1 at St. Paul Union American Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Joyner-Francis' mom described her as "extremely beautiful, so very thoughtful, awesomely intelligent, very, very talented and definitely one of a kind."

"You are simply marvelous my dear!!!" the memorial card read. "Hugs and smooches, you will be my heart always and forever, my beautiful sweetpea."

The family has not commented publicly on the attack and has not spoken directly with the media. Through various spokespeople representing them, the family has called for peace following their daughter's death, as well as an end to social media lies that spread viciously in the days following the assault. All other services honoring Amy were private.

Gyheim Fitzgerald, 17, lives across the street from Joyner-Francis and said they used to date. Her death still troubles him, he said Monday.

"I was just hoping they caught them and hoping they got charged with some good," Fitzgerald said.

He never knew about Joyner-Francis' heart condition and didn't hear that as part of the gossip in the days after the fight took her life. He said he's processing how he feels about the charges but will follow the case to trial and beyond.

Derrick Downs, a carpenter who lives in the Eastside neighborhood near Howard, said he doesn’t think the girls intended to kill Joyner-Francis. Still, they need to be held accountable, he said. Downs has a 13-year-old daughter who will go to Howard next year, and he worries that some of her peers act out because they are not supervised at home by parents.

“Even if I didn’t have a child I feel like somebody’s got to be held accountable for that,” he said. “Yes, they’re minors but they got to know right from wrong.”

Contributing: Adam Duvernay and Karl Baker, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal.Follow Brittany Horn on Twitter: @brittanyhorn