NEWARK (BCN) — A Newark woman was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in state prison for her role in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Newark High School student and football star Justice Afoa in December 2010.

Daniela Guzman, 22, was convicted on June 30 of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit assault and gang enhancement clauses.

Prosecutor Elgin Lowe told jurors during Guzman’s trial that although she didn’t personally kill Afoa, her anger that a friend of Afoa broke up with her set off a chain of events that led to Afoa’s death.

“She kept insisting and kept the whole thing going,” Lowe said.Lowe said Afoa, who was a defensive lineman at Newark Memorial High School and made second team all-league in the Mission Valley Athletic League in the 2009 season, was fatally stabbed near the intersection of Cedar Boulevard and Birch Street in Newark at about 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2010. Guzman’s brother, Rafael Tovar, 34, was convicted In July 2014 of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and committing the crimes to benefit a criminal street gang. On April 27 he was sentenced to 29 years to life in state prison.

Daniel Howard, a 33-year-old trucker from Fremont, was convicted on May 31, 2013, of first-degree murder and committing the crime to benefit a gang as well as two counts of premeditated attempted murder for trying to kill his girlfriend and her unborn child in a separate incident in Fremont on Nov. 25, 2012.

He was sentenced to 70 years to life in state prison on June 27, 2013.

Lowe said the chain of events that led to Afoa’s death began when Afoa beat up Tovar at Tovar’s home at about 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2010.

He said Tovar started a fight because he was upset that Afoa’s friend had broken up with Guzman, his sister.

Tovar initially was fighting with the teen who had broken up with Guzman but Afoa got involved when he tried to break up the fight, Lowe said.

Six weeks later, on Oct. 30, 2010, Afoa was assaulted at a house party at 36187 Cedar Blvd. in Newark and Guzman subsequently admitted she had set him up to be assaulted in retaliation for the beating of Tovar, Lowe said.

Guzman and Tovar initially were upset with the teen who had broken up with her but their focus later turned to Afoa because he had beaten up Tovar, according to Lowe.Guzman acted as a spotter for Tovar and Howard, telling the two reputed gang members where to find Afoa the day he was killed on Dec. 15, 2010, Lowe said.

Newark police said Tovar eventually admitted that he stabbed Afoa about five times and estimated that Howard also stabbed Afoa about five times.

Guzman’s attorney, Ernie Castillo, said Friday that he asked jurors to find Guzman not guilty of murder and only convict her of conspiracy to commit assault because he believes she never intended for Afoa to be killed and he thinks that Tovar acted on his own when he and Howard killed Afoa.

Castillo said he believes the jurors’ decision to convict Guzman of second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder implies that they agreed that Guzman didn’t have an intent to kill Afoa.

But he said they didn’t have the option of convicting her of the lesser offenses of voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter because Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson, who presided over the case, declined the defense’s request to instruct jurors on those options.

Castillo said Guzman’s appellate lawyers will raise that issue when she appeals her convictions and he thinks there’s a good chance the second-degree murder finding will be reduced to a lesser charge.

Lowe said Friday that he’s glad for Afoa’s family that all the people responsible for his death have finally been convicted and sentenced.

Lowe said Afoa’s mother spoke in court for the first time Friday and said she forgives Guzman but Guzman, Tovar and Howard will be judged by God.

In a sad aftermath to Afoa’s death, Osani Futi, 18, his friend and football teammate, was killed in April 2012 after Futi quarreled with gang members who he believed were responsible for Afoa’s death.

No one had been charged in connection with Afoa’s death when Futi was fatally stabbed, as Howard, Tovar and Guzman weren’t arrested and charged until December 2012.

Abraham Hade, now 21, who Lowe alleged was a leader of a branch of the Norteno gang called Fremont Mexican Territory, was convicted of second-degree murder for Futi’s death and was sentenced in 2013 to 16 years to life in state prison.