The teen girl accused of beating classmate Kaylee Gain outside of their St. Louis high school, video of which made the rounds on social media, will not be tried as an adult.
The Juvenile Office of St. Louis County Courts made the decision Wednesday, following a review of 15-year-old Maurnice DeClue’s background and school history. Her lawyer told KDSK her punishment could range from community supervision, which is like probation, to detention at a juvenile facility.
It comes just weeks after a juvenile officer testified in a past hearing that Gain was a bully who often tormented her accused assailant before initiating their notorious brawl on March 8.
Bystander recordings, which very quickly went viral, shows DeClue climbing on top of Gain and repeatedly slamming her head into sidewalk, not far from Hazelwood East High School in Spanish Lake, where they were both students. In a previous hearing, DeClue’s mother, Consuella DeClue, testified her daughter was merely “defending herself” at the time.
Still, several politicians and officials, including Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, demanded DeClue be tried as an adult after the video surfaced.
The confrontation left 16-year-old Gain in a coma with severe injuries, including a skull fracture and brain bleeding. She did awake from the coma, but Gain was still hospitalized for weeks, during which time she underwent a series of medical procedures, including a craniectomy, which involved removing part of her skull to relieve pressure on the brain. As a result, she has to wear a customized helmet until she can undergo surgery to reattach the missing piece.
Gain is also required to attend physical and speech therapy three times a week and experiences short-term memory loss. She has since been discharged from the hospital and is back at home.
With News Wire Services
