A then-18-year-old’s prison sentence is still going viral on the Internet over six years after it happened.
The video involving former teen Ky’Andrea Cook of Daytona Beach, Fl., and her mother, Lashawnda Ponder, reacting to a hefty 20-year prison sentence for her use of a dating app to organize a robbery and carjacking that escalated to a shooting became one of the top court sentencing reactions.
On Tuesday, June 27, 2017, Circuit Judge Matthew Foxman slapped Cook with a 20-year sentence for the carjacking charge, 15 years for attempted carjacking with a deadly weapon and 15 years for a battery felony—all concurrent sentences. Mid-reading the sentence, Cook’s mother, Ponder, began wailing uncontrollably and falling to the ground, causing Cook to get emotional.
A conspiracy charge was dropped, which carried a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The former teen asked the judge if she could hug her mom, but Foxman denied it, and Cook began blubbering. The presiding judge continued reading the sentence and had police escort the now-25-year-old out of the courtroom, leaving her grieving mother to call out for Jesus repeatedly.
Internet users couldn’t resist acknowledging the pain in Ponder’s voice as the judge practically told her she would go years without seeing or holding her daughter. Others pinpointed Cook’s upbringing as the problem, blaming Ponder, oblivious that not every parent can micromanage their children and work. It’s literal science that behavior changes as children get older, with adolescence being one of the most complex stages for parents to inflict discipline. There’s a part of the brain that controls decision-making, and their impulse control isn’t fully developed.
According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Cook was a Mainland High School student when the incident happened in March 2017. Through the Meet Me app, Cook and her then-boyfriend and accomplice Kendrick Bass would lure victims to an area to carjack and rob them.
On March 22, 2017, Cook arranged a meeting with 27-year-old Perry Nida, a Palm Coast man and drug offender on probation, in South Daytona. The plan was for him to sell her 10 grams of marijuana, and they would have sex. He brought with him then-18-year-old Immanuel “Manny” Pursel.
Before the meeting, Nida felt suspicious and hid the drugs in a bush before picking her up. Cook later climbed into Nida’s truck and told him she had to get money and left before returning to the vehicle, only for a masked man to climb into the backseat and point a gun with a laser sight at Nida.
The masked man told Nida to exit the pickup truck, but Pursel pushed the man out, causing the gunman to fire the firearm twice, the bullet striking Pursel’s stomach.
Cook carjacked another victim the same way the following day. She was arrested April 27, 2017 for both incidents. Bass was arrested Jan. 26, 2018, for his charges.
Foxman acknowledged that Cook didn’t pull the trigger but intentionally orchestrated the ordeal.
“This was intentional. It was an orchestrated ambush. And you are a main part of that,” Foxman said. “For that, I’m going to adjudicate you guilty for all three charges and sentence you to 20 years in state prison.”
That’s when Ponder reacted.
In spring 2018, Cook’s sentence decreased to 11 years after her attorneys negotiated a plea with state attorneys. She agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against Bass.
