American woman sentenced to 25 years for killing Chinese student after rear-end crash

American woman Holly Davis was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday in a court in the western U.S. state of Arizona for the murder of a Chinese student after a rear-end collision in 2016. 

Yue Jiang is shown in large photographs at a memorial over two years after her death in Tempe, Ariz. An Arizona woman who fatally shot the Chinese college student after a car crash was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday, June 15.  [Photo: AP]

A judge in Maricopa County Superior Court sentenced Davis to 25 years with no possibility of early release for second-degree murder in the January 2016 fatal shooting of Jiang Yue, a 19-year-old Chinese student who got scholarships to study at Arizona State University. 

Jiang was driving her car when she was rear-ended by Davis in the Arizona city of Tempe. Davis then got out of her Volkswagen Passat, walked up to the door of Jiang's car and opened fire. 

The shooting killed Jiang, who was in the driver's seat, and injured six others after Jiang's car veered out of control into the intersection and struck an oncoming car. Davis fled the scene and was later taken into custody by police. 

Davis has been in jail since her custody. 

Dressed in black with a small white flower in her hair, Xu Xiang, the slain Chinese student's cousin, was present in the court on Friday. 

Xu was glaring at the killer Holly Davis for at least 10 seconds before she stepped towards the center of the court to make her statement. The courtroom was in a complete silence. 

Two big framed Yue's photographs from Xu were placed on the chair facing the front. 

In court on Friday, Jiang's cousin wept as she called Davis a monster, saying "All I want to say is no matter how much you dress yourself up like a human, the inhumane acts you did with Yue's life will not disappear."

"No words can express how sorry I am. I am so sorry." Davis told judge in the court, accompanying by her lawyer. 

Worrying to be too sad and emotional, Jiang's father did not appear in court who also traveled from China to Phoenix for the trial. 

"We tried our best to do something to fight for the justice," Xu said after the trial, "We had no choice but to face it."

"We are grateful for all people offering help to us throughout the entire process, including the Chinese Consulate, attorney, overseas Chinese organizations, schoolmates and Arizona State University," She said, "We hope such tragedies end there." She said.