GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) – A white 17-year-old girl was sentenced Thursday to four years in juvenile detention for planning to stab north Georgia churchgoers to death because they were Black.
The girl pleaded guilty to attempted murder as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced in Gainesville, Georgia, news outlets reported.
The girl, who was 16 at the time of her arrest in 2019, sobbed while reading an apology, The Times of Gainesville reported. The Associated Press is not reporting her name because she was sentenced as a juvenile.
She will be on probation for 10 years and must stay at least 150 feet (about 45 meters) from any African Methodist Episcopal church during that time, the newspaper reported after Thursday’s hearing in Hall County Superior Court. She also must undergo counseling, the newspaper said.
Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish said in November 2019 that Gainesville High School students, school administrators and law officers had worked together to thwart a “potentially horrific incident.”