Republished March 28, 2019 - 7:24 AM
Original Publication Date March 28, 2019 - 5:56 AM
DANVILLE, Ky. - A Kentucky teenager has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing her stepmother and stealing her car.
News outlets report lawyers for 17-year-old Jenna Oakley tried to argue she should serve time in residential treatment, saying she shouldn't be incarcerated with adult offenders. At Wednesday's hearing, witnesses who worked with her at a juvenile holding facility testified about her good behaviour.
But Circuit Court Judge Darren Pecker said the 2016 killing of 52-year-old Rhonda Oakley was "particularly cruel." Her body was found by her 13-year-old son. The then-15-year-old Jenna Oakley was found two days later with her stepmother's car in New Mexico, along with her 20-year-old boyfriend, Kenneth Nigh. Nigh died by suicide in jail. Oakley was later charged as an adult.
The victim's husband and teen's father, Phillip Oakley, called her sentence too short.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019