Kayla’s Family and Mount Vernon Community Wanted Stiffer Sentence
Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that a 15-year-old Mount Vernon resident was indicted in connection with an April stabbing that killed one teen and injured another in Mount Vernon.
The 15-year-old Juvenile Offender was indicted by a Westchester County Grand Jury for Manslaughter in the First Degree, Attempted Assault in the First Degree, Assault in the Second Degree, all felonies, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree, a misdemeanor. The defendant was arraigned on May 31, 2022, and is being held without bail.
“First and foremost, our thoughts are with the victims and their families in what continues to be an extremely tragic and difficult time. Violence and the disregard for human life among our youth continues to be among the most troubling issues that we face as a society and I will continue to work with all of our government and community partners to try and find ways to prevent such senseless loss of young lives,” DA Rocah said. “Pursuing justice on behalf of all victims has been, and continues to be, paramount to the work of my office. We remain committed to vigorously prosecuting violent crimes and will seek to hold the defendant accountable within the bounds of the law that have been put in place in relation to juvenile offenders.”
The Juvenile Offender is charged with fatally stabbing 16-year-old Mount Vernon resident Kayla Green on Gramatan Avenue in Mount Vernon at approximately 3:55 p.m. on April 8, 2022. The victim was transported to Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx, where she was pronounced dead. The Juvenile Offender is also charged with stabbing a second victim, Mainece Simpson, 15. She was taken to the hospital for treatment of a puncture wound and other injuries.
The Mount Vernon Police Department arrested the Juvenile Offender following an investigation, with assistance from the Westchester County Department of Public Safety and the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force.
The case is before Judge Susan Cacace in Youth Part, and is being prosecuted by Homicide Bureau Chief Lana Hochheiser and Violent Criminal Enterprise Bureau Chief James Bavero.
Family and friends of Kayla Green and Mainece Simpson have held rallies to call for a more serious charge for the teen age killer. They called for murder charges to be filed in the stabbing death of Green and attempted murder in the stabbing of Simpson.
Nicole Duncan, the mother of Mainece Simpson, said her daughter was “mentally destroyed and physically still hurting from her wounds. My daughter’s life has changed forever. I want justice.”
Kayla Green’s family has been represented publicly by former Mayor Richard Thomas.
