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Two teens enter not guilty pleas in Tessa Majors slaying

Two teenagers charged as adults in the fatal stabbing of St. Anne’s-Belfield graduate Tessa Majors have pleaded not guilty, according to New York media reports.

The arraignment comes after news that a third teen, 14-year-old Luchiano Lewis, was arrested Wednesday.

Lewis faces charges of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery, according to The New York Times.

He appeared in court with Rashaun Weaver, 14, who was arrested Friday night and is charged with one count of intentional murder and one count of felony murder. Weaver also faces five robbery counts, according to online court records.

Both entered not guilty pleas at a court hearing Wednesday afternoon, according to the Times.

The death of Majors, who was a freshman at Barnard College, shocked the small university and the community in her Charlottesville hometown.

Police say Majors entered Morningside Park near the college’s campus around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 11, then was confronted by a group of teenage boys who attempted to rob her and then stabbed her. She made her way out of the park and back to a Columbia University security guard station, where the guard contacted 911, according to police.

She died at a nearby hospital from wounds to the upper body, according to the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.

A 13-year-old boy was arrested Dec. 12 and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and criminal possession of a weapon. He has not been identified because he is not being charged as an adult.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has said officials believe Weaver is the person who stabbed Majors.

At a memorial service in Charlottesville in December, friends and family remembered Majors as independent, loyal and creative.

Source: www.dailyprogress.com

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