Kentucky teen sentenced to 15 years in stepmother’s killing

DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky teenager has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing her stepmother and stealing her car.

News outlets report lawyers for 17-year-old Jenna Oakley tried to argue she should serve time in residential treatment, saying she shouldn’t be incarcerated with adult offenders. At Wednesday’s hearing, witnesses who worked with her at a juvenile holding facility testified about her good behavior.

But Circuit Court Judge Darren Pecker said the 2016 killing of 52-year-old Rhonda Oakley was “particularly cruel.” Her body was found by her 13-year-old son. Then then-15-year-old Jenna Oakley was found two days later with her stepmother’s car in New Mexico, along with her 20-year-old boyfriend, Kenneth Nigh. Nigh died by suicide in jail. Oakley was later charged as an adult.

The victim’s husband and teen’s father, Phillip Oakley, called her sentence too short.