A Waldorf, Maryland, teenager was sentenced Wednesday to five years in a D.C. juvenile detention center after she pleaded guilty to killing her 16-year-old friend, Naima Liggon, last year in a dispute about McDonald’s dipping sauce.
The teen will remain in the D.C. Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services system until her 21st birthday, which is the maximum sentence possible after she agreed to a plea deal last December.
Liggon was killed outside a McDonald’s on 14th Street and U Street in August 2023. The teen charged in her killing told detectives the fight was over sweet-and-sour sauce.
In court Wednesday morning, Judge Andrea Hertzfeld listened to three victim impact statements including from Liggon’s parents.
Surveillance video of the night of the fatal stabbing was shown, depicting three women fighting on the sidewalk in front of McDonald’s. The judge also watched a slideshow with pictures of Liggon that her parents made. Wylace Liggon, Naima’s father, said he supports the judge’s decision but cannot forgive what happened.
“My little girl is gone,” said Liggon, “And although she got the sentence to 21, I still don’t have my daughter at the end of the day. So yeah, forgiveness … is not in my heart right now.”
In his statement to the court, he said the fight was taken too far, and his daughter “should not have been killed over sweet and sour sauce.”
“Naima was a bright soul,” her father added after the sentencing, “with so much potential for the future. I was just so excited about the person she was going to turn into in the future. And it’s just a shame that we won’t get a chance to see that.”
Joy Liggon, Naima’s mother, said she was glad the sentencing was over, but she did not feel that justice had been served.
“Kids that get a slap on the wrist have no reason not to do the things that they’re doing in the city right now,” said Liggon. “It’s just not enough.”
The teen read a letter aloud in which she apologized and said she wished that day never happened. The teenager’s defense attorney asked the judge for a one-year probation with homeschooling and volunteer work, however, the judge felt that the teen needed a stronger sentencing.
The judge finished by stating that the stabbing was a tragedy. “This was really over sweet and sour sauce? It’s very hard to make sense of it,” Hertzfeld said. “It is very hard for me to understand how someone with no criminal history ends up committing a brutal and vicious murder of someone who is a friend.”
The teen will remain in a juvenile detention center. The next hearing will be held on March 8 to discuss placement in a therapeutic program.
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