Jurors handed down a not guilty verdict Thursday in the trial of a Mohegan Lake teenager accused in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old girl.
It took jurors six hours to find Krystle Fernandez not guilty of second-degree manslaughter and weapons possession in the death of Elsa Camacho. Police said Camacho had been recruited by a 28-year-old woman to fight Fernandez because the older woman thought Fernandez was dating her 16-year-old boyfriend.
A fight occurred at a Cortlandt housing complex where the boy lived. The defense claimed Fernandez defended herself after she was jumped by Camacho and three others, including the 28-year-old woman. After being slashed on the neck, Fernandez said she pulled out her own knife and began waving it around. She testified she never felt it hit anyone.
Camacho?s mother, who was present throughout the trial, said even a guilty verdict couldn?t bring her daughter back.