In this Dec. 2, 2019, file photo, law enforcement officers search Morningside Park along Manhattan's Upper West Side neighborhood in New York after an 18-year-old Barnard College freshman, identified as Tessa Majors, was fatally stabbed during an armed robbery in the park. One of the three teenagers charged in the stabbing death of the college student in New York pleaded guilty Wednesday, June 3, 2020, to robbery. The teen had been arrested just days after the Dec. 11 killing of Majors in and initially faced a murder charge before pleading to robbery. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Republished June 03, 2020 - 4:24 PM
Original Publication Date June 03, 2020 - 3:51 PM
NEW YORK - One of the three teenagers charged in the stabbing death of a college student in New York pleaded guilty Wednesday to robbery.
The teen had been arrested just days after the Dec. 11 killing of 18-year-old Tessa Majors in a Manhattan park, and initially faced a murder charge before pleading to robbery.
The boy, 13 years old at the time, told detectives he was at the park with other young people but wasn’t the one who stabbed Majors, who was a student at Barnard College. His name was withheld because he was being tried as a juvenile.
The Legal Aid Society, which represented the now-14-year-old, said in a statement that the robbery plea “is consistent with our client’s limited role in this tragic event. He did not touch Ms. Majors or take any of her property. Furthermore, no DNA evidence exists linking him to the events."
Two other teens, both 14 years old at the time, have pleaded not guilty to murder in her death and are being tried as adults.
News from © The Associated Press, 2020