Wilcox County teen-ager guilty of murder
Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 11, 2003
A jury found a Wilcox County teen-ager guilty of murder on Wednesday.
Toni Renea Kimbrough, 16, of Lower Peach Tree, was charged with the murder of Ashley Carter, 16, in a Feb. 10 incident at Wilcox Central High School. A jury found Kimbrough, who was charged as an adult in the stabbing death, guilty after about an hour of deliberation.
According to Fourth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Ed Greene, a sentencing hearing for Kimbrough will most likely occur in January. She’s being held without bond.
“She’ll get 10 to life,” Greene said of Kimbrough’s sentence.
Several witnesses took the witness stand during the three-day trial, including Kimbrough. Kimbrough testified that she had a knife the day of the incident because she believed Carter also had a knife. However, she also said she lied to police in a previous statement about taking a knife from Carter on Feb. 10.
“The loss was horrendous,” Greene said. “It’s a thing you can’t explain. I mean, why?”
Other witnesses testified that they saw Kimbrough brandish a knife on the day of Carter’s death, threaten her and call her vile names. “And Kimbrough followed Carter to the school door and attacked her,” Greene added.
After Kimbrough’s sentencing, she will be transferred to the state penitentiary to serve her sentence.
Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Tommy Jones denied youthful offender status for Kimbrough in July. Greene said that if the status had been granted, Kimbrough’s maximum sentence would have been three years, and her record would have been sealed.
The incident began around 3 p.m. on Feb. 10 as students were boarding school buses to go home. Greene said Kimbrough was standing around fellow students as she showed them a black-handled steak knife.
A student, who saw Carter nearby, called her over to the group. She approached, and after a few words began walking back toward the school.
Just as Carter was about to enter the school, Kimbrough grabbed her, spun her around and began stabbing her.
The forensics report states Carter died of multiple stab wounds.