In a plea deal, the state dropped murder charges against a New Iberia 11-year-old and she pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.
Under the deal, she would serve seven years with three-and-a-half years suspended.
The girl is to remain in state custody while awaiting a predisposition scheduled for April 16, Judge Roger Hamilton said. The 107 days the girl has spent in detention will count as time served plus the 60 days she will likely remain in custody, Hamilton said.
There was a hush when the 11-year-old entered the courtroom Thursday afternoon. Activists prayed, and the girl immediately locked eyes with her family across the wooden threshold. She let out a small smile despite having been detained for more than 100 days.
Flanked by Haley and her father, the girl was visibly shaking as the judge explained the plea deal.
The 11-year-old was present at the time her 15-year-old brother allegedly shot Kameran Bedsole in the head in November, the state concluded. The state said the girl did not kill Bedsole but obstructed an investigation. The 11-year-old later divulged information that assisted the investigation of Bedsole's death.
On Nov. 29, the girl was arrested in Lafourche Parish and charged with first-degree murder alongside her 15-year-old brother in connection to Bedsole's death. Sabrina Washington, the children's mother, was arrested and charged with accessory after the fact when she and the 15-year-old were discovered in Houston, Texas less than a month after the shooting.
Older sister Ahshiriya Washington teared up as the judge read the terms of the deal.
"What we experienced here today is not justice," Rev. Wilfred Johnson of New Chapter Push said atop the steps of the Iberia Parish courthouse.
"If this was a White child, it would have been different," Johnson said to the crowd of activists and community members.
Angela Eaglin, Vice President of the Village 337, said the American criminal justice system devalues the lives of Black people and said she is certain that if this child was a White girl she would be in the custody of her parents while awaiting trial, if she was ever arrested in the first place.
"I feel disgusted," Eaglin said. "I know she shouldn't be spending seven years in jail. This is what they do to our Black children."