Marizah Thomas, now 19, was acquitted Tuesday by a Franklin County Common Pleas Court jury.
An Ohio jury has acquitted a teenage girl of murder in the 2021 shooting death of another teenage girl.
Marizah Thomas, now 19, was acquitted Tuesday by a Franklin County Common Pleas Court jury.
Thomas was tried as an adult. She testified last week that when she was 16 years old, she fatally shot 17-year-old Jayce O'Neal in the neck and leg after they fought outside Thomas' home on Columbus' Far West Side on July 12, 2021, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
O'Neal reportedly had a running dispute with Thomas after her boyfriend left her for Thomas, according to the Dispatch.
O’Neal had come to Thomas' home and initiated the confrontation, according to trial testimony and statements obtained by the Dispatch.
A neighbor had testified there was a brief fight that included hair-pulling outside between the two teenage girls that had ended before Thomas went inside her home, came out with a gun, and shot O'Neal, the Dispatch reported.
Thomas had always maintained her innocence, entering a plea of not guilty, according to a court record obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
The jury deliberated for more than seven hours across Monday and Tuesday before returning its verdict, the Dispatch reported. The jury did find Thomas guilty of tampering with evidence. She will be sentenced on that charge in juvenile court, according to the court document.
