A woman is the third person to take a plea deal, admitting to playing a role in the high-profile and brutal killing of a Job Corps student seven years ago.
Desiray Strickland and four others were originally accused of crimes surrounding the 2015 death of Homestead Job Corps student Jose Amaya Guardado. Two of them are still awaiting trial.
The Strickland family shielded their faces as they walked out of the courtroom Thursday.
Inside the courtroom, Strickland raised her right hand in an orange jumpsuit and plead guilty to conspiracy to murder. In a deal with prosecutors, she will avoid the charge of murder and two others for battery on officers, which came during her time in custody.
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She’ll get 15 years in prison, including seven years of credit for time already served. She may be out as early as 2028.
"Desiray Strickland is very pleased to have this case resolved today," said Strickland’s attorney, Scott Sakin. "She feels terrible for what happened to the Jose Amaya family and Mr. Amaya. It was never anyone’s intention that he die."
The accused were students at Homestead Job Corps, a school managed by the federal government for at-risk youth. Law enforcement in 2015 said the five teenagers dug a grave in a wooded area before luring 17-year-old Amaya into the woods, hacking him to death with a machete over a debt owed. Police suspect the debt was over drugs.
Strickland was one of the five people arrested and now will likely testify against her then-boyfriend, Kaheem Arbelo, who prosecutors believe wielded the machete when Guardado died. Miami-Dade prosecutors want the death penalty for Arbelo.
Fellow students Jonathan Lucas and Joseph Michael Cabrera also plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in 2020.
“They were all friends in school. It was all just an unfortunate set of circumstances," Sakin said. "She was a very minor participant in it. There are still other people remaining who were far more involved than she was."
When Strickland gets out of prison, she’ll have one year of community control and 10 years of probation.
