Murdered Teen's Mom: 'My Daughter's Spirit Can Rest'

Hours after a Suffolk County of killing Curtisha Morning 16 years ago, the victim's mother said the last weeks have been filled with the pain of having to relive her daughter's horrific last moments.

Taylor stabbed Morning, who was 17 and Riverhead High School's homecoming queen, over 90 times in a jealous rage over a boy.

After she was originally found guilty in 1999, the case was thrown out in 2004 after an appellate court determined that a judge gave incorrect instructions to the convicting jury.

Rehashing the details of the tragedy have made the pain fresh, Morning said. "I am in emotional turmoil right now," she said Monday evening. 

But the verdict brought some measure of closure. "My daughter's spirit can rest," Morning said.

During the past weeks, Morning, who now lives in North Carolina but for the retrial with her daughter Trina Morning, likened the experience to "being on a tremendous roller coaster."

Despite the grief, during the past 16 years, Morning has tried to, somehow, "get on with my life." The retrial, she said, forced her to "relive what happened," disrupting her life and making the wounds of loss raw once again.

After the verdict, Morning was filled with gratitude. She thanked Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Janet Albertson. "She did well by me, and by my family," Morning said. "She took all that she had inside of her and she did it, for me."

And, added Morning, "I thank God -- that He let there be justice."

A jury deliberated for about three hours on Monday, said Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota's spokesman Bob Clifford, before convicting Taylor of second-degree homicide. The trial was presided over by Judge William Condon.

Tyisha Brandon, Taylor's cousin, has said her cousin was a victim. "I know my cousin and she is innocent," she said. 

Taylor is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 22, and faces 25 years to life.

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