QUEENS — The accused killer of 14-year-old D’Aja Robinson, who was fatally struck by a stray bullet while riding a city bus in South Jamaica, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years-to-life in prison, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced.
Kevin McClinton, 24, of Rosedale, was convicted in May of murder and criminal possession of a weapon, officials said.
“It has been just over three years since this youngster was senselessly shot and killed,” Brown said about Robinson in a statement. “She was a talented 14-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her and she did not deserve this fate."
The teen, who attended Campus Magnet High School in Cambria Heights, had just left a Sweet 16 party on May 18, 2013, and was riding the Q6 bus with friends when a stray bullet hit her in the head on Sutphin Boulevard, near Baisley Pond Park.
Police said at the time that Robinson was the unintended victim of a gang dispute.
According to Brown, McClinton, then 21, and his accomplice, Shamel Capers, then 15, began firing multiple rounds from a handgun at the bus, trying to hit a rival gang member. One of the bullets pierced the bus window and struck Robinson in the head.
Capers, of Brooklyn, who was arrested and charged for the murder in July 2014, is presently awaiting trial, prosecutors said.
McClinton's lawyer, Michael Horn, said that he had already filed a notice of appeal.
"I believe that there were some factual and legal errors that occurred during the trial and I’m hoping that Mr. McClinton gets another opportunity to litigate this matter so all the facts could be heard,” he said.
Horn declined to elaborate.
Last week, a portion of Sutphin Boulevard between Rockaway Boulevard and 125th Avenue where the teen was killed, was renamed "D’Aja Naquai Robinson Way.”
