A teenage boy who stabbed a teen girl in Lakeside last year has been sentenced to 480 days in a youthful offender program.
The boy, 16 at the time of the incident, whose name has been withheld due to his age, was charged along with his girlfriend, 15, for the April 16, 2022 stabbing.
Prosecutors argue the attack was racially motivated.
A group of youths, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, angrily confronted the victim, 16, who is Black, as well as members of her family.
The hostile teens shouted racial slurs at the girl and her relatives, as they were apparently upset about an assault that had occurred earlier in the day, sheriff’s Lt. Shawn Wray said.
The boy stabbed the victim twice in the back, according to prosecutors, who said his girlfriend wielded a drainage grate at the victim’s mother just before the stabbing.
Prosecutors sought to try the boy as an adult, but a judge rejected the request to transfer him to adult court.
The boy later pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury and a hate crime allegation and was sentenced last Friday to 480 days in a San Diego County program for juvenile offenders called Healing Opportunities for Personal Empowerment, or HOPE, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.
His girlfriend was tried in juvenile court last year. A judge found her guilty of assault and a hate crime allegation. She was sentenced to 120 days at an in-custody Urban Camp program.
– City News Service
