Kentaya Whitaker had to grow up fast.
And her hopeless childhood probably led to her decision to nearly kill a man by stabbing him in the chest during a botched drug deal.
The 20-year-old Bethlehem woman was sentenced Friday to 16 to 32 years in prison for the robbery Feb. 16, 2016, in the 500 block of Ontario Street in Bethlehem. Police said the victim was left in critical condition due to the stab wound.
Whitaker’s mother, Tamika Alexander, said she could have done a better job raising her daughter, who she described as quiet and intelligent.
Whitaker was the oldest of Alexander’s eight children and the one-time teen mom often left her in charge before she was 10 years old.
“I was drugging, smoking weed, drinking,” said Alexander, who wore a Stay Puft marshmallow man t-shirt to court.
Whitaker’s grandmother told Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden she would come home some times to see Alexander passed out and Whitaker left in charge. The grandmother admitted that she too was addicted to drugs but is now clean.
“My daughter made bad choices. I made bad choices. So has Miss Taya,” she said, referring to her granddaughter.
Defense attorney Matt Deschler said Whitaker was raped multiple times and tried several times to commit suicide. She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder but a mental health evaluation determined she could not assert mental illness as a defense for the crime.
She was hooked on prescription painkillers and marijuana but went for treatment shortly before the stabbing, Deschler said.
“At the time I thought the system had failed me but I failed myself,” Whitaker told the judge, adding she takes full responsibility for her crime.
When two of the three other co-defendants were sentenced last year, their attorneys noted that Whitaker was the only stabber in the conspiracy. Senior Judge Leonard Zito said “I get a sense that maybe there is some hope” for co-defendants Patrick Price and Tyrik Adams.
Deschler flipped that around, saying Adams manipulated Whitaker into joining the scheme. She was desperate to make friends. She won a $100,000 settlement from a car crash but spent it all in three months, mostly on the three men involved in the botched robbery, Deschler said.
“Other people take advantage of her goodwill,” Deschler said. “She’s kind of a follower and not a leader. That’s how she got involved in this incident.”
Price and Adams each pleaded guilty to a single count of robbery and were sentenced to five to 10 months in county prison followed by three years of probation by Senior Judge Leonard Zito.
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Semaje Brunson, was sentenced to five to 14 months in prison by McFadden last year.
McFadden acknowledged Whitaker’s upbringing and that she has taken responsibility for her actions. But the fact remains she committed a serious crime.
“The community needs to be protected. There needs to be punishment for what happened here. You were the one who did the stabbing,” McFadden said. “We can’t ignore what happened. You should know better.”
The judge expects Whitaker will be paroled to inpatient treatment for her drug and mental health issues. She sentenced her to serve three years of probation after her parole expires.
When she is released from rehab, Whitaker must spend her first 90 days at home under electronic monitoring. She must get a job and submit to random drug tests while she is on probation, the judge ordered.
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
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