Girl, 14, gets 20 years in gang slaying

A 14-year-old girl has been sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for the death of a Burlington County woman attacked during a gang slaying in Camden earlier this year.

Shatara Shakira Carter pleaded guilty in May to aggravated manslaughter and admitted she helped kill Muriah Ashley Huff, 18, of Cinnaminson after Huff's boyfriend, Michael "Doc Money" Hawkins, 23, of Maple Shade had been beaten and shot in the head.

The couple had been tortured by members of the Lueders Park Piru Bloods street gang who were enraged that Hawkins associated with the rival Crips.

Carter is the first of 10 people charged to be convicted in the Feb. 22 slayings in a Berkley Street rowhouse where she lived with several relatives, including her mother, two sisters and a brother. Her brother, Dennis Welch, 19, also is charged.

Carter appeared this morning before Superior Court Judge Irvin J. Snyder in Camden.

"I have never seen such a heinous act by a young person in my professional life, and in fact not in my life period," the judge told Carter in imposing the 20 years.

She must serve 85 percent of the sentence and will be sent to a maximum-security prison for adults, the judge said.

Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Mary Alison Albright had asked the judge to honor a plea agreement in which Carter, who originally had been charged with murder, pleaded to the lesser manslaughter charge to avoid a possible life sentence.

Relatives for Huff and Carter wept in the courtroom. As Carter's mother sobbed in the gallery, her daughter turned and called out "Mommy" during the proceeding.

Huff's uncle, Earl, told the judge that his niece, a cosmetology student at the Burlington County Institute of Technology, dreamed of owning a beauty salon, but instead was treated in an "ungodly" way as she fought for her life.

"I hope this young lady comes to her senses some day and realizes what she did and gets the help she needs," Huff said.