Gina Grant (born 1976) is an American woman who gained notoriety for receiving early admission to Harvard University, only to have it rescinded when it became known that she had killed her mother and had omitted this fact from her college application.
Background Gina Grant was the daughter of Charles Grant and Dorothy Mayfield, both of whom lived in Lexington, South Carolina. She had one sister, who was 9 years older than she was. Gina's father died of lung cancer when Gina was 11 years old.
1990 killing and aftermath At the time of her crime, Grant was a juvenile so as per the law pertaining to minors, the criminal records are sealed. However, the Lexington County sheriff, James Metts - who handled the original case - released Grant's name immediately after her arrest. Thus, the facts of the case are available in copious newspaper and magazine articles published in the early 1990s.
On September 13, 1990 in Lexington, South Carolina, the 14-year old Grant bludgeoned her mother thirteen times with a crystal candlestick, crushing her skull. She mopped up pools of blood from the kitchen floor and hid the candlestick and bloody rags in a closet. She then tried to make the death look like suicide by sticking a carving knife into the side of her mother's neck, and wrapping her mother's fingers around the handle.
Grant changed her story several times. Initially, she told police that her mother attacked her while holding a knife and then stabbed herself in the throat. When the candlestick was discovered, Grant changed her story, eventually telling the police that she had committed the killing in self-defense. She was charged with murder.
In mitigation, evidence suggested that Grant's mother was an alcoholic. Gina claimed that her mother had been physically abusive, which her sister attested to. Grant pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to a year in juvenile detention, with probation until age 18. Her boyfriend pleaded no contest to being an accessory to voluntary manslaughter after the fact and served nearly a year in juvenile detention.
Grant was given permission by the juvenile court to relocate to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to live with a paternal aunt and uncle. She began attending Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in 1992, where she excelled academically, tutored impoverished children, and was co-captain of the tennis team.
Admissions revocations Grant's crime became the subject of national headlines when, in January 1995, she was given early admission to Harvard University. She also reportedly told her Harvard interviewer that her mother had died in an accident. Her lawyer later argued that educational institutions are forbidden by Massachusetts state law to ask about criminal matters that do not result in "convictions". Juveniles found guilty are "adjudicated delinquent" rather than "convicted".
After Grant was featured in an April 2 Boston Globe Sunday Magazine article about disadvantaged students who succeeded despite their circumstances, an anonymous party faxed Harvard and The Globe copies of old news articles about the murder. The next day, Harvard rescinded Grant's admission, though the college did not comment on the specific reasons for rescission, citing several possible reasons. Although Grant requested a meeting with the admissions committee to discuss their decision, Harvard refused to grant her access.
So basically after hearing this story, our professors question to us was, did Harvard make the right decision to revoke Gina's application due to something that happened when she was a minor? There was a box on Gina's application that she checked no. The question asked her if she had ever been separated from learning facilities. Gina's acceptance to Harvard was takend away because she wasn't truthful about it. I believe that she gave that answer because while she was in the Juvenile Home she was still being taught. So that was the class long discussion and it was interesting to see what other people thought.
I got out of sociology at 10:45 and my next class wasn't until 12:30. Amanda and I decided that we were gonna go off campus to grab something to eat because we refused to pay for over priced food there. We waited for Angie and we were out! We drove to MCD and ate there, had some good food and conversations and learned more about each other! Then it was time to go back and Amanda dropped us off at the school, I walked Angie to the library, and then went to my Psychology class that was 2hr45min here's a selfie that I took during break time lol
Class started and I felt like I was there forever. I started to learn about different types of psychologists etc. I like that class but I know that and sociology is going to be an overload on my brain! I know I can do it though! I wish I had more pictures to share with y'all from today, wait I have one!
That's it! I'm out folks! Goodnight! :-*
I stumbled on your blog entry when, out of random curiosity, I wondered what ever happened to Gina Grant. I went to school with her - she was in our freshman class at Lexington High School. I still remember it like it was yesterday - finding out about it when my best friend handed me the newspaper with Gina's picture on the front as we were going to our lockers in upper hall. It is fascinating to me that people talk about it today. It was nonetheless shocking and sad in our town. I wonder what has happened to her and where she went. Surely she has changed her name.
ReplyDeleteI just watched her case on deadly women and was wondering the same thing. Where is she in life.
DeleteGina Malloy
ReplyDeleteSame here, I just watched deadly women on ID and was curious to find where she was.
ReplyDeleteI watched too. With only that information it is hard to determine the relationship was between Gina and her mother. We only have Gina's side of the story and not much from the older sister. Many people have drunks for parents and they don't kill them.
ReplyDeleteAt 14 sneaking a boy into the house is something any mother would not approve of. After the murder she challenged police, repeatedly changed her story, tried to throw the boy SHE LOVED under the bus (obviously she was willing to let him rot in jail for her crime) and then years later lies to Harvard.
I knew right from wrong at 14 years old and clearly she did too. The system let her make a fool them. She is dangerous, and is most likely still damaging or destroying people. She has no conscience. That makes her dangerous.
My mother always told us "don't do anything you can't live with," In other words, let your conscience be your guide. No conscience, no guidelines to live by.