A then-18-year-old’s prison sentence is still going viral on the Internet over six years after it happened .
The video involving former teen Ky’Andrea Cook of Daytona Beach, Fl., and her mother, Lashawnda Ponder, reacting to a hefty 20-year prison sentence for her use of a dating app to organize a robbery and carjacking that escalated to a shooting became one of the top court sentencing reactions.
On Tuesday, June 27, 2017, Circuit Judge Matthew Foxman slapped Cook with a 20-year sentence for the carjacking charge, 15 years for attempted carjacking with a deadly weapon and 15 years for a battery felony—all concurrent sentences. Mid-reading the sentence, Cook’s mother, Ponder, began wailing uncontrollably and falling to the ground, causing Cook to get emotional.
A conspiracy charge was dropped, which carried a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The former teen asked the judge if she could hug her mom, but Foxman denied it, and Cook began blubbering. The presiding judge continued reading the sentence and had police escort the now-25-year-old out of the courtroom, leaving her grieving mother to call out for Jesus repeatedly.