A group of teenage girls accused of a racially motivated attack on six Catholic schoolgirls have been offered a deal that could land them in jail for up to a year and a half.
City lawyers put out the offer yesterday, but the five suspects and their attorneys have until their next scheduled court appearance on June 1 to accept or reject the offer for a guilty plea of assault as a hate crime.
The charge carries an 18-month maximum sentence, but the judge in the case could impose a lighter sentence.
The five suspects – ages 13 and 14 – were allegedly part of a pack numbering as many as 30 kids that jumped six white girls in the Marine Park JHS basketball court on March 30.
The teens – identified by the city’s Law Department as Sadira M., Akeylah P., Jessica P., Kedne L., and Vanna W. – shouted “black power” and “white crackers,” according to the victims.
Cops nabbed five of the girls alleged to have been in the group but did not charge them with a bias attack, infuriating the victims’ parents and roiling racial tensions in the neighborhood.
But on April 8, the city’s Corporation Counsel Office – which prosecutes juvenile cases in family court – upped the charges to assault and menacing, including some counts as hate crimes.
Yesterday, none of the victims’ parents were in court and the suspects’ lawyers declined to comment.
“I cannot divulge anything at this time,” said one teen’s attorney, while shielding her client’s face from cameras outside the courthouse.