Nicole Matthews fought back tears Thursday as she asked a judge to impose a fair sentence on the woman responsible for her daughter’s death in a freak shooting incident.
Ni’Dreyah Marshall, 17, of Wilkins, was killed on Feb. 23 after being shot in the head by her friend Rayohna Hexstall, who was drinking tequila while waving a pistol around.
Hexstall, 20, of Pitcairn, maintains the shooting was an accident and pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced Thursday to 3 to 23 months in jail.
Ni’Dreyah was a student at Woodland Hills High School in Churchill.
While the sentence was being read by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Patrick A. Sweeney, some of Ni’Dreyah’s family got up and walked out of the courtroom, visibly upset.
“I believe that God is the ultimate judge,” Ni’Dreyah’s mother told the court, remarking on her daughter’s now-empty seat at the dinner table. “Forgiveness does not mean that the pain is gone.
“No sentence handed down today will ever replace what was taken from us.”
Matthews said she wanted a sentence that reflects the seriousness of what happened.
“Not out of hatred, revenge or anger — but because accountability matters,” she said. “It’s not OK to pick up a gun.”
Tamera Brice, Ni’Dreyah’s aunt, said her absence is felt every day.
“She was a beautiful young woman who was deeply loved … her future was taken all too soon,” Brice said. “Although our hearts are broken, we choose to seek healing through faith and forgiveness.”
Marijuana, tequila, then a gunshot
Hexstall was part of a group smoking marijuana and drinking tequila in a Ni’Dreyah’s Wilkins apartment when a pistol Hexstall was waving went off. The shot fatally struck Ni’Dreyah in the head as she sat on her bed.
Hexstall started playing with the gun around 3:15 a.m., a criminal complaint said. A witness told police Hexstall’s finger was on the trigger as she waved it.
At the time of the shooting, Hexstall’s 1-year-old daughter was in a car seat by the apartment’s front door.
Jeanne Marie Emhoff, a county public defender representing Hexstall, said her client is “fully responsible” for her actions.
“My client didn’t set out to hurt anybody,” Emhoff said. “(It was) the product of intoxication. Untreated alcoholism runs deep in my client’s family.
“(Hexstall) had not received any treatment for that and was in denial … she is very remorseful for her actions.”
Hexstall also spoke to the court Thursday, breaking down into tears as well, saying “words can’t explain” what happened to her friend at her own hand.
“I am entirely affected and traumatized as well as the family,” she said, expressing her “deepest condolences and deepest apologies to Ni’Dreyah’s family. “I never meant (for it) to happen at all … it was an accident.”
Hexstall said Ni’Dreyah taught her “many things,” including faith in God and journaling.
“If I could just get another chance to make everything right,” Hexstall said, asking for forgiveness from Ni’Dreyah’s family. “I’m still trying to forgive myself.”
Hexstall said while in jail, she’s used resources to help with her alcohol use and been given words of wisdom from older adults to “change for the better.” She said she won’t “even touch another drink.”
“Not just for me and for my friend … to become a better mother,” she said. “My daughter should not experience this at all.”
Judge saw jail as ‘necessary’
Assistant District Attorney Donald Presutti said the killing was a result of recklessness and gross negligence. But, “we lost a life.”
“(The) defendant gets to keep living their life,” he said. “Those actions cannot be ignored; they cannot be diminished.”
Because Hexstall was convicted of a misdemeanor instead of a felony, the judge was limited in the sentence he could impose.
He was presented several certificates of programs Hexstall completed in the Allegheny County Jail since being taken into custody. But the judge emphasized the presence of Hextall’s 1-year-old daughter while she was drinking and when the shooting occurred.
Sweeney said he decided on jail time because he believes “a little more structure is necessary” for Hexstall, along with accountability and rehabilitation.
Incarceration will be followed by outpatient treatment and house arrest.
Sweeney said he will consider early probation “if everything goes well.”