A Texas teen was convicted of murdering her best friend last year after an argument transpired during a sleepover. The teen, whose name has not been released because she’s a minor, is 14-year-old and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stabbing Nylah Lightfoot in the chest and neck with a kitchen knife.
“I stabbed her and I made the worst mistake of my life,” the convicted girl said. “I wish I had been thinking clearly at the time. I pulled it out instantly and tried to stop her from running.”
According to reports, the accused girl said she and Nylah met at school and quickly became close, stating they were like sisters, but they also fought like siblings.
On the night in question, the girl said she went home after a pool party because there wasn’t enough room in the bed at Nylah’s apartment. The two began to argue via text message about a slamming door and then about returning clothes that each borrowed.
The teen then claims Nylah showed up at her apartment at 2:30 AM and then began arguing again. The girl says she retrieved a knife from her kitchen. Realizing what she did, the teen said she tried to help Nylah and stop the bleeding with a towel.
Nylah died at John Peter Smith Hospital May 29. Nylah’s mother, Antoinette Carter made a victim’s impact statement after sentencing and expressed grief her daughter’s death came at the hands of her best friend.
“When they told me it was you, it hurt,” Carter told the girl. “You was at my house every day.”
The prosecution, however, didn’t buy into the girl’s versions of events and stated her anger problems is what caused Nylah’s death.
“When she came outside with the knife, she was still in control. But not even her friend could stop her. She was only following through with what she had threatened twice,” Tarrant County prosecutor Jim Hudson said.
The girl faced 40 years in prison but was sentenced to 25. She will serve her time in a juvenile facility until her 19th birthday.
The girl’s stepfather said the verdict was unfair and cited Ethan Couch, the white teen who received no jail time, for driving drunk in 2013 and killed four people.
