The 15-year-old girl accused of brutally beating Kaylee Gain and leaving her in a coma will not be charged as an adult, a judge has ruled.
The decision followed testimony from a juvenile police officer earlier this month, who claimed Gain, 16, was a serial bully who tormented her attacker, Maurnice Declue, 15.
It was also claimed that Gain started the fight and threw the first punch, and was suspended for fighting with another girl the day before.
On Wednesday, a St. Louis judge followed the officer’s recommendation and decided the case would remain in juvenile court.
Kaylee Gain, the 16-year-old who was brutally beaten by a fellow student in a now-viral video filmed in March, was a serial bully who started the fight, a juvenile officer testified
Footage of Gain, 16, being attacked by fellow student Maurnice Declue, 15, went viral as Gain was seen slamming his body into concrete
Gain made national headlines and saw an outpouring of support after footage of her confrontation with Declue outside their school on March 8 went viral.
In the clip, Declue was seen hitting Gain’s head against the pavement, leaving her in a coma with severe brain damage, and it wasn’t until two months later that she started walking again.
Declue was charged with first-degree assault and has remained in the juvenile detention system while she waited to hear whether she would be tried as an adult.
But on May 10, months after the video circulated widely on social media, a judge heard testimony from the juvenile officer that contradicted the original story of the fight.
The officer cited both girls’ school records and said Gain was a serial bully at her school who had singled out Declue before their fight and was suspended the day before for another fight.
It was also recently revealed that Declue was an honor student who skipped seventh grade and that he was on good behavior while in juvenile detention.
The defense also brought forward several witnesses, including both girls’ teachers, who revealed that Declue had never previously had behavioral problems, as the officer suggested she had been lured into the fight by the serial perpetrator.
Spanish teacher Richard Bly praised Declue as a “model student” who behaved well in his class, further revealing how her grades were so good that she skipped seventh grade and was one of the youngest children in the class.
Kaylee fell into a coma after suffering a serious head injury during the fight, and did not start walking until two months after the incident
The Missouri teen’s family says she has recovered well but has no memory of the attack and has had to learn to speak again
Gain’s stepmother, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at the same hearing: ‘A terrible choice by two teenage girls to solve their problems with violence saw one go too far with her bare hands and a concrete road.’
She explained how Gain has had to learn to walk and talk again as she recovers from the injuries, continues to suffer from memory loss and has been forced to wear a custom-made helmet to protect her brain.
Declue’s mother, Consuella Declue, tearfully added, “My family, my church, we all prayed for KG [Kaylee Gain].
‘I think [my daughter] was just defending herself, I don’t think she had any intention or thought for this to happen.
“We are very sorry,” she concluded, adding that her daughter was sorry for the incident but still acted in self-defense.
Gain’s family said she has “improved significantly” since the incident, but is still missing part of her skull and will need additional surgeries to have it reattached.
Attorney Bryan Kaemmerer wrote in a statement: “While in the hospital, Kaylee underwent a craniectomy, a neurosurgical procedure in which part of Kaylee’s skull was removed to relieve pressure on her brain.
“The part of Kaylee’s skull that was removed has still not been replaced,” he added, weeks after the father of the St. Louis schoolgirl whose abuse horrified much of the nation revealed that she had a drug-marred childhood.
Clinton Gain, 41, shared The New York Postthe pair had agreed to the fight and produced text messages between the two as evidence.
Gain’s father, Clinton Gain, 41, (pictured together in her youth) revealed that her childhood was marred by both parents’ drug addictions
Clinton Gain said his daughter and her attacker agreed to meet before the fight so they could ‘settle’ a weeks-long feud
He admitted that a period of dysfunction and instability involving him and the girl’s mother predated the images, and gave an account that somewhat coincided with that of the juvenile officer on Friday.
“She was just a normal kid,” Clinton said, recalling how he and Kaylee’s mother, April Nordstrom, both struggled with addiction during her childhood.
“We tried to give them some stability and structure,” he continued, before admitting that she had indeed suffered during those years.
Things got worse, he said, when the couple broke up — when Kaylee was just five.
That left her and her little brother living at Nordstrom, he said — when she was still addicted up to her knees.
When Kaylee was eight, he said, the situation finally got so bad that both children had to live with their grandparents for about two years.
He said her childhood was up and down as Kaylee longed for her mother — who he said also kicked her drug addiction — but after Kaylee moved in with her, the teen’s behavior spiraled.
After the viral fight, he told the Post that both girls had been insulting each other for weeks before the fight, and “they both agreed to the fight, to meet and sort out what was going on.”