The 15-year-old Missouri girl charged with slamming her peer, Kaylee Gain, into the pavement during a fight will not be charged as an adult after the court heard testimony saying the victim was a serial bully.
Maurnice DeClue was charged with first-degree assault for her role in the March 8 fight that took place outside of St. Louis’s Hazelwood East High School after the shocking footage went viral, Breitbart News reported.
Gain suffered critical head injuries from being bashed into the street, including a skull fracture and brain bleed, and was in a coma for two weeks following the incident.
While the violent fight video and serious aftermath riled up debates on social media over whether DeClue should be tried as an adult, the teen’s school records, teachers, and family maintained that she was a good student who had been defending herself from Gain.
A St. Louis judge agreed with a correctional officer’s recommendation that DeClue should remain within the juvenile court system instead of being tried as an adult on Wednesday, the Daily Mail reported.
Gain was already suspended from school the day before the viral fight for another fight involving other girls, the New York Post revealed in late March.
Citing both Gain’s and DeClue’s school records, a juvenile officer testified in court earlier in May that Gain was a bully who tormented and threw the first punch at DeClue.
DeClue was also said to have been behaving well while locked up in juvenile detention and is an honor student who skipped seventh grade.
Both girls’ teachers also testified that DeClue had never exhibited behavioral problems, with Spanish teacher Richard Bly praising her as a “model student.”
Gain’s stepmother characterized the incident as “a terrible choice made by two teen girls to solve their issues through violence caused one to go too far with her bare hands and a concrete road,” according to the Daily Mail.
As Kaylee recovers from her injuries, she has had to learn how to walk and talk again.
DeClue’s mother also spoke during a recent hearing, tearfully saying, “My family, my church, we all prayed for KG [Kaylee Gain].”
“I think [my daughter] was just defending herself. I don’t think she had any intent or thought this would happen,” Consuella DeClue explained.
“We are very sorry,” she added, noting that her daughter regretted the fight but maintained she acted in self-defense.
Gain’s father, Clinton Gain, admitted to the New York Post in April that the two girls had agreed to fight before the incident.
He also said his daughter had gone through dysfunction and instability due to both he and her mom being drug addicts, causing the teen’s behavior to spiral out of control — though the family has denied that Kaylee was a bully.
