Kalil McCoy's family sues 3 involved in her death for damages

20-year-old fatally shot while out with former classmates

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The family of a 20-year-old woman shot and killed in 2011 is suing for wrongful death.

Kalil McCoy was shot and killed by Frederick Wade after getting into an argument while they riding in a vehicle with two other friends. Wade claimed the gun went off accidentally, but he was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in her shooting death. 

Kennard Mahone and Jonathon Brooks, who were also in the car when the gun went off, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact for helping Wade carry McCoy's body into the wooded area where it was later found.

McCoy, Wade, Mahone, Brooks and Mears were classmates at Andrew Jackson High School, the school McCoy graduated from weeks before her death.

The McCoy estate filed in 2013, names Wade, Mahone and Brooks for wrongful death. Attorney John Phillips said the court has approved his request for punitive damages. 

"This is going to be a two-part trial," Phillips said. "There's compensatory damages, which is the pain and suffering ... designed to compensate the victim. Then there's a punitive component. We've all heard the expression 'crime doesn't pay.' Well, we want a jury to review this case and determine not just that crime doesn't pay, but that crime will be punished in Jacksonville."

Jury selection was expected was by midday Monday, with opening statements and testimony in the afternoon.

McCoy's mother knows the civil lawsuit won't bring her daughter back, but it will acknowledge the pain she and her family have felt for more than seven years. 

"Every day when I see my son and my other daughters, its still something missing. Khalil is not here, and for me to live every day knowing my daughter is not here is hard," McCoy's mother," Lynnette Roebuck, said.

The case is expected to wrap up on Tuesday.

Timeline of Kalil McCoy's death, legal proceedings

June 21, 2011Body of 20-year-old Kalil McCoy is found off East 31st Street in Jacksonville. She had been missing since June 19, after leaving a nightclub.
June 27, 2011The body is positively identified as McCoy's and police say she was shot to death.
July 1, 2011Frederick Wade is charged with manslaughter in McCoy's death. He tells police he was fooling around with a gun while driving an SUV and that it went off, killing McCoy. Three other young men were in the SUV and eventually each pleads guilty to being an accessory for helping to dispose of McCoy's body.
Jan. 31, 2012Charge against Wade is upgraded to second-degree murder.
April 24, 2012Wade's first trial begins. Two of the men charged as accessory testify against him.
April 27, 2012Jury convicts Wade after deliberating for about 20 minutes.
Aug. 8, 2012Judge sentences Wade to life in prison.
Aug. 19, 2013Appeals court orders new sentencing for Wade, ruling the judge erred in giving him life in prison and that Wade was eligible for a range of 25 to life.
Oct. 9, 2013Wade is resentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Feb. 3, 2015Appeals court throws out Wade's conviction and sentence, ruling that the omission of an instruction to the jury on manslaughter by culpable negligence was a fundamental error.
March 4, 2016 After the retrial is delayed several times, a judge denies a motion from Wade's lawyer to have his confession suppressed in his retrial.
Oct. 24, 2016A new judge is assigned to Wade's retrial.
June 6, 2017Wade's retrial on the second-degree murder charge begins.
June 7, 2017Wade found guilty of second-degree murder for a second time.

 


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