A sentence including anger management instruction and a small fine, but no further jail time, was given to a 19-year-old who admitted being one of two teenagers who relentlessly abused a 15-year-old St. Francis girl in a beating captured on video and seen on Facebook more than 500,000 times.
Cassandra Borden of Cedar was sentenced Monday by Anoka County District Judge Jenny Walker Jasper after she pleaded guilty in October to misdemeanor fifth-degree assault for participating in the June ambush in dark woods near the Ponds Golf Course in St. Francis.
The video was posted on Facebook by the mother of the victim, Sydney DeTenancour, who was 15 at the time of the beating on June 17.
DeTenancour was hit nearly 50 times by Borden, who can be heard on the video during the profanity-laced tirade accusing the victim of being with "my man."
The attackers accused DeTenancour of "snitching" on Borden's boyfriend, who was cited for drunken driving.
Jasper also gave Borden a 90-day jail term, but 89 of those days were stayed for one year, and she had already served one day upon her arrest.
The judge did order Borden to undergo anger management counseling, write a letter of apology, obtain a high school equivalency degree and perform 40 hours of community service.
Greg Carson, who created the "Support for Sydney" Facebook group within days of the assault, said of the sentence: "It comes as no surprise to me and we were hoping for a different outcome due to the violence and premeditation shown and displayed in the video."
