Three teenage girls have been charged in connection to an assault that left a 16-year-old dead in a Delaware high school.
One 16-year-old girl was charged with criminally negligent homicide, two others were charged with criminal conspiracy, the Delaware Department of Justice announced on Monday.
The homicide charge is punishable by up to eight years in prison.
The office said the medical examiner ruled that Amy Joyner-Francis’ death was caused by “sudden cardiac death due to large atrial septal defect with a contributing factor of physical and emotional stress due to physical assault,” and that the cardiac arrest was not caused by a pre-existing heart condition.
“The individuals responsible for Amy Joyner-Francis's death are minors, but they must be held accountable for their actions,” the state's DOJ said in a statement.
Police said that Amy, a sophomore at the school, was struck by only one of the girls inside the restroom at Wilmington's Howard High School on April 21 in the fight that lead to her death.
"At the end of the day, nothing brings Amy back," family representative Sherry Dorsey Walker told WPVI-TV. “So whatever the charges are, their issue is, Amy is never coming home."
