DECATUR, Ga. (TCD) — A 42-year-old mother has been sentenced to life in prison for “trying to take the law into her own hands” against her daughter’s alleged molester and causing the death of a teenager instead in 2020.
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced that on March 22, a jury found Danyale Harris guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the shooting death of 19-year-old Juan Newkirk. A judge subsequently sentenced Harris to life in prison with the possibility of parole, with an additional five years.
On March 31, 2020, Harris reportedly found a video of her daughter, who was 12 years old at the time, engaging in sexual relations with 22-year-old Antonio Harley. Harris reported the incident to the DeKalb County Police Department on April 1. The officer who took the report told Harris that detectives would contact her and advised her “not to let her anger get the best of her and not to try to get revenge,” according to prosecutors.
Later that day, Harris reportedly went to an apartment complex in the area of Wesley Chapel Road and Snapfinger Road to confront Harley with a group of people, including three who were armed.
Harris had her daughter direct her to Harley’s apartment. The defendant knocked on the front door with the group of individuals behind her, the district attorney’s office said. Harley did not answer and went around the side of the building to find Harris and the others with her.
Harris and the people with her chased Harley, and he reportedly ran into his apartment through the back. Someone in Harris’ group fired a gun as soon as he shut the back door, hitting Harley in his chest.
According to the district attorney’s office, Harley’s brother fired back from inside the apartment to “protect himself and five of his younger siblings who were just feet away inside the apartment.”
Newkirk, one of the individuals who went to the apartment complex with Harris, was struck by gunfire and killed during the incident.
The district attorney’s office said two other people involved in the exchange have been charged.
Harley faces charges of statutory rape, child molestation, and sexual exploitation of children.
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