Teen pleads guilty in Camden killing

A 14-year-old girl pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter Tuesday in the death of an 18-year-old woman who was tortured and killed in a Camden home.

Shatara Shakira Carter, appearing in Superior Court in Camden, described how she choked and repeatedly beat Muriah Ashley Huff to ensure she was dead.

Prosecutors allege Huff and her boyfriend, Michael Hawkins, were tortured for hours - beaten, stabbed, and choked - in a Berkley Street rowhouse on Feb. 22. Hawkins also was shot at least five times.

In all, 10 people, including four juveniles, have been charged.

Authorities allege Hawkins and Huff stopped by the rowhouse, where members of the Bloods street gang lived. Hawkins was accused of being a member of the rival Crips gang, sources said.

Carter implicated others in court, including Kuasheim "Presto" Powell, 24, of Camden.

"He pistol whipped her with the gun, two times in the head," Carter said of Powell. Then, she said, he told Carter to "'finish her off.'"

Carter said she picked up part of a chair and repeatedly struck Huff.

She said everyone in the room agreed Huff should be killed after Hawkins had been shot to death elsewhere in the house.