Camden gang member sentenced to 20 years in torture death of Burlington County woman

A 14-year-old girl who joined a violent Camden street gang partly out of boredom was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for fatally beating, stabbing, and choking a Burlington County woman.

Shatara Shakira Carter of Camden appeared before Superior Court Judge Irvin J. Snyder in Camden and was told she had to serve at least 17 years in an adult maximum-security prison before she could be considered for parole.

Carter is one of 10 members of the Lueders Park Piru Bloods gang charged in the Feb. 22 torture deaths of Muriah Ashley Huff, 18, of Cinnaminson, and her boyfriend, Michael "Doc Money" Hawkins, 23, of Maple Shade.

The two were repeatedly assaulted in a violent frenzy that spanned several hours as the gang members allegedly struggled to make sure they were dead and as both victims begged for their lives.

"I have never seen such a heinous act by a young person in my professional life, and, in fact, not in my life, period," Snyder told Carter on Thursday.

In May, Carter pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. She admitted that she beat, stabbed, and choked Huff with her hands and a jump rope 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.

Hawkins was beaten and shot in the head after gang members became enraged over his association with the rival Crips gang. Huff had no gang association but was killed because she tagged along with Hawkins that day, authorities said.

The other nine people charged all have pleaded not guilty.

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

But Albright - who at times fought back tears - spoke about how Huff's life had been cut short by "an act of thuggery." She quoted from a psychological examination in which Carter said she joined the gang partly because she was bored.

"Sometimes, judge, for a teenager, life is boring, but you don't turn to violence and you don't join a street gang," Albright said.

Carter's public defender, Kevin Lewis, said Carter accepted responsibility for her part and cooperated with authorities. He also quoted from the psychological evaluation, noting that Carter came from a shattered family and said she joined the gang out of a need to belong.

Relatives of Huff and Carter wept in the courtroom. As Carter's mother, Arnetta "Miss Peanut" Welch, sobbed in the gallery, her daughter cried, turned, and called out "Mommy" during the proceeding.

Welch had been released from jail Thursday morning and arrived late for her daughter's sentencing. Authorities said she was jailed on child-abuse charges after she hit, choked, and threw an ashtray at her 16-year-old daughter while sheriff's officers evicted the family from the Berkley Street rowhouse last month.

Welch had been home during the slayings and reportedly tried to stop the assault on Huff before her son took her to a bedroom. Authorities did not charge Welch in the slayings.

Huff's uncle Earl Huff told the judge his niece, a cosmetology student at the Burlington County Institute of Technology, had 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 someday and realizes what she did and gets the help she needs," Huff said of Carter.

The family displayed photographs of Huff, including a picture of her in a graduation cap and gown for a ceremony she never got to attend.

A cousin, Camille Williams, said a piece of their family was taken, and told Carter: "Shatara, you participated in taking the life of someone you knew nothing about."

Sylvia Huff, the grandmother who said she raised Huff, recalled fond memories and emotionally described how Carter will go to jail but her granddaughter will never return.

"Something left me, a part of me left," she said.