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Jahmere Manning, of Albany, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in Albany County Supreme Court on Friday, Dec. 9.
It followed his October 2022 guilty plea to one count of second-degree murder in the shooting death of 18-year-old Chyna Forney.
Prosecutors said on May 3, 2021, Manning and a co-defendant, Alvin Foy, fired more than 30 shots toward Forney and several other people near a home on Essex Street.
Forney was found lying in the roadway with a gunshot wound to her back, Albany Police said. She was later pronounced dead at Albany Medical Center.
The girl’s death came just weeks before she was set to graduate from Albany Leadership Charter High School for Girls, according to WRGB.
Students and staff remembered her as a “bright, shining light” and a talented athlete who planned on becoming a nurse, the school’s principal told the outlet.
Prosecutors did not provide a motive for the shooting, which police said left several nearby cars riddled with bullet holes.
Forney’s family was in the courtroom for sentencing Friday and addressed Manning directly.
“You are still able to see your mother and your daughter, and talk to them,” the Albany County DA's office quoted her mother as saying.
“But we will never have the opportunity to talk to, or see her again. All we have now are memories.
"You left my family in shambles, heartbroken, and in pain with an empty void that cannot be replaced or filled.”
Albany County Supreme Court Judge Roger McDonough spoke to the broader impact that recent gun crimes have had on the surrounding area.
“What’s clear to the court is that you, and people like you, are destroying your own community,” McDonough told Manning.
“I’ll be long gone from the bench by the time you’re eligible for parole, but I’ll make my statement now, because I won’t have an opportunity to contact the parole board at that time.
"I hope you serve every day of this sentence. Every day of this sentence.”
Manning’s guilty plea also satisfied another open case in which he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, prosecutors said.
Foy’s case is ongoing.
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