Teenager Sentenced to 9 Years to Life in Killing of Tessa Majors

“Our hearts ache as we watch Tess’s friends return to school, perform in concerts and experience all the things our daughter never will,” the statement said.

Mr. Bogdanos then played surveillance video of Ms. Majors’s final moments of life, captured near the corner of 116th Street and Morningside Drive.

As the video played on three large screens — including one directly in front of Mr. Lewis, who did not drop his head — Mr. Bogdanos narrated for the court what was taking place: Ms. Majors slowly ascending a flight of stairs, after she had already been stabbed at least once in the heart; Ms. Majors shuffling toward a street corner; Ms. Majors standing near a lamp pole, and collapsing.

After Mr. Bogdanos finished, Mr. Lewis, his voice trembling, addressed the court.

“As a human I feel ashamed, embarrassed and sad at the role I played,” he said. “Nothing I say or do can change that fact.”

He apologized to Mr. Majors for his loss, paused, then addressed his own father.

“Dad, I am sorry that I failed you and for a moment became less human,” he said, adding, “I promise I will make you proud again.”

The judge, Robert Mandelbaum, said before delivering the sentence that Mr. Lewis had repeatedly fought with others imprisoned at the juvenile detention center where he is being held, and that he had participated in the violent slashing of another prisoner.

“I agree that one bad choice — even one horrific choice — standing alone should not prevent leniency in the case of a young offender,” Justice Mandelbaum said. “But the defendant has demonstrated in a year and a half since this terrible incident that this was not an aberration.”