‘COWARD!’

Teen Gets 9 Years to Life After Plea Deal in Tessa Majors Slaying

Luchiano Lewis, 16, admitted last month to his part in the 2019 botched-mugging-turned-murder of college freshman Tessa Majors.

A teenager who admitted to his part in the 2019 murder of Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors has been sentenced to nine years to life in prison. Luchiano Lewis, 16, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first- and second-degree robbery charges in September. Arrested early last year, he was accused of having restrained Majors during a botched mugging in New York, preventing Majors’ escape and allowing another defendant, 16-year-old Rashaun Weaver, to stab the college student. Lewis was 14 at the time of Majors’ death, but both he and Weaver were tried as adults. Weaver has yet to stand trial.

An unnamed third defendant, 13, confessed the day after the crime and was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention. Majors’ family released a statement after the 13-year-old’s sentencing expressing their horror at the decision. Lewis delivered a long statement last month detailing the events of the December evening, saying that he hadn’t known Majors had been stabbed until he saw a news story about it the next morning. He told the court that Weaver kicked Majors in the back, falling to the ground and getting into a tussle. He thought he heard Majors yell, “Coward!” at him.