Family Seeks New Trial After Teen Gets 140-Year Sentence for 2021 Killing

The family of Damia Mitchell is demanding a new trial, after she received a 140-year prison sentence for the 2021 killing of Faith Burns.

11Alive reports the deadly incident took place last Valentine’s Day in Gwinnett County, Georgia, when a then 17-year-old Mitchell got into an altercation at her ex-girlfriend’s home. Prosecutors say Mitchell had gone to the residence with four other girls after allegedly sending violent text messages to her ex. Though Burns reportedly didn’t know Mitchell, she was at the home when the fight escalated into gunfire and resulted in her death.

Mitchell was ultimately convicted of gang-related charges as well as voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. The four others were also charged in the killing and were reportedly sentenced to 10 years in prison after accepting plea deals. 

During the trial, prosecutors accused Mitchell of being affiliated with the Nine Trey Gangster Bloods street gang; however, whilenher family insists the gang allegations were simply untrue.

“These gang charges, those were just trumped up charges, false charges they put on my child,” Vanissa Jackson, Mitchell’s mother, told the outlet. “She’s not affiliated with gang members. She’s not in a gang […] Basically they’re saying you’ll never see daylight ever again in your life. They want my baby to die in jail for something that’s false and bogus.”

Mitchell’s family is now asking the court to overturn her sentencing and grant a new trial. Her father, Kevin Mitchell, called the punishment “excessive” and claimed the case was improperly handled. Mitchell’s parents also claim their daughter had no record prior to the incident, nor did she carry out the shooting; however, Burns’ father maintains Mitchell is most responsible for his daughter’s death.

“They’re up here wondering why the other girls got 4 to 10 years,” Allen Burns said. “She’s the one that assembled that posse to come over there. They’re like well she ain’t the shooter, but you brought the shooter over to the house that day … Faith was hanging out with [Mitchell’s] ex-girlfriend and they came over that house that day because they were going back and forth with beef. My daughter was an innocent bystander. Faith did not even know any of the girls that day.”

Allen Burns described the case as a “no-win situation,” but suggested he and his family suffered the biggest loss.

“We all lose,” he said. “They lose their child in jail; we don’t have our child. Who wins? Nobody wins.”