A New York teen who participated in the robbery and death of Tessa Majors, a Barnard student killed in 2019, is behind bars again after receiving a lax sentence in juvenile jail.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Zyairr Davis pleaded guilty in 2021 to his role in the attempted robbery and fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Majors. Davis was 13 at the time of the stabbing.
A judge sentenced Davis to 18 months in a juvenile detention center, due to the to Raise the Age law. The exact date Davis was released is unclear, but by 2023, he was involved in another violent altercation in Harlem.
Davis and two other suspects allegedly fired shots into a crowd, in retaliation for the murder of a fellow gang member, FOX News Digital reports. Two others
“Each aimed and fired multiple gunshots in the direction of the group of people standing on the southeast corner of Lenox Avenue and West 131st Street,” a criminal complaint read.
Police arrested Davis a few days later and took him to the Horizon Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx.
In September, while locked up at the center, he allegedly got into a fight with other inmates and then attacked a youth counselor with the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), according to a criminal complaint.
He was subsequently charged as an adult with assault, harassment, and related charges.
Following the incident, ACS transferred him to Riker’s Island, an adult prison in the Bronx. His lawyer, Neville Mitchell, argued that Davis likely didn’t get the help he needed while in the juvenile facility.
“They always go back to ‘He was a poor kid who had a bad childhood,’” Retired NYPD Assistant Commissioner of Youth Services Kevin O’Connor told The New York Post.
“That’s not the victim’s problem. That’s where government is supposed to step in and do it’s job. You commit a murder you go to jail.”
Tessa Majors Murder
Majors had been walking in Morningside Park in New York, near a staircase entrance, when Davis and two other teens jumped her in an attempted mugging that turned fatal when Majors fought back.
After being stabbed multiple times, Majors crawled, bleeding, up a staircase toward a security desk, but could not be revived once she was taken to a hospital.
Davis was the first of three suspects to be arrested in connection to the murder, but claimed he did not participate in stabbing her.
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Luchiano Lewis and Rashaun Weaver, both teens at the time, were also charged in her death.
Lewis testified in court that they didn’t plan to kill Majors. He also claimed Weaver stabbed Majors, although he didn’t realize what Weaver had done until he saw it on the news the following day.
According to an affidavit, detectives collected DNA underneath Majors’ fingernails, which matched to Weaver.
The affidavit said that the chief medical examiner reported Majors was stabbed multiple times in the torso and “that one of the stab wounds pierced her heart.”
Weaver pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2021. He received a sentence of 14 years to life in prison. He also pleaded guilty to additional unrelated robberies.
Lewis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. He was sentenced to nine years to life behind bars.
“They have no idea what it’s like to try and hail an Uber while sitting on a city bench after being stabbed. No idea what it is like to bleed to death on a New York City street in the presence of strangers,” Majors’ parents later wrote in a statement during Weaver’s trial.
Meanwhile, Davis has reportedly pleaded not guilty to 11 charges related to the Harlem gang shooting.
He’s expected back in court on November 12 for the jail fight charges and December 4 for the Harlem shooting charges.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Tessa Majors/Handout]
