Holly Davis, the 34-year-old woman who fatally shot Chinese student Yue Jiang in a 2016 road rage incident, was sentenced Friday to 25 years imprisonment.
Read more: Tempe Police: ASU student killed in car shooting
Jiang, who was 19 years old, was on a shopping trip with a friend when her car collided with Davis’s vehicle at the intersection of Broadway Road and McClintock Drive. Police said Jiang’s friend then left the Mercedes to inspect the damages, only to see Davis walking toward the vehicle, brandishing a weapon.
Jiang’s friend promptly got back in the car, but before Jiang could drive away, Davis shot her multiple times. She died later at the hospital. The friend was not physically injured.
Jiang’s family made the trip from China to appear in court, arguing the plea deal for second-degree murder was not enough. The family tearfully pleaded with the judge for first-degree murder, an offense that can be punished with the death penalty.
“All I want to say is no matter how much you dress yourself up like a human, the inhumane acts you did with Yue’s life will not disappear,” Jiang’s cousin, Katherine Xu, said, according to a report by The Associated Press.
In the end, the judge accepted the plea bargain.
Davis, who said she suffered from drug addiction and depression at the time of the attack, was also tearful at the sentencing.
“No words can express how sorry I am,” Davis said. “If I could bring her back, I would. If I could take her place, I would.”
Reach the reporter at parker.shea@asu.edu or follow @laconicshamanic on Twitter.
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