Jahara Malik pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a deadly weapon in the death of 17-year-old Yahkeim “Keimo” Lollar.

MIAMI, Fla. — Jahara Malik was sentenced to 17 years in prison Tuesday for fatally stabbing her 17-year-old boyfriend in a Miami parking garage in 2024, ending a case that split two grieving families over punishment, age and accountability.

The sentence came after Malik, now 18, pleaded guilty in March to manslaughter with a deadly weapon in the death of Yahkeim “Keimo” Lollar. Prosecutors sought 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation, while the defense asked Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Christine Hernandez to treat Malik as a youthful offender and send her to a boot camp program. Hernandez imposed 17 years in Florida state prison, followed by five years of reporting probation.

The hearing lasted more than five hours and moved between anger, grief and pleas for mercy. Lollar’s relatives asked the judge to see his death as a violent act that ended the life of a high school football player days before Christmas. Malik’s family and supporters asked the court to consider that she was 17 when the stabbing happened and had no prior arrests. Hernandez said the sentence had to reflect both the loss of life and the danger created when Malik brought out a knife during what the defense called horseplay.

Miami police were called around 11 p.m. Dec. 20, 2024, to a parking garage at an apartment complex in the 6100 block of Northwest Sixth Court. Officers found Lollar with a stab wound to the chest. He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center and pronounced dead at 11:53 p.m., investigators said. Police later said Malik told detectives she usually carried pepper spray for protection, but grabbed a knife that day because she could not find the spray before going shopping with a friend.

After shopping, Malik met Lollar in the parking garage. Her account to police said the two were horseplaying before the knife entered his chest. Prosecutors disputed that description in court. Assistant State Attorney Kristen Rodriguez said the blade cut through Lollar’s hoodie, shirt and muscle, clipped a rib and went into his heart. Rodriguez told the judge the case showed foreseeability, not a simple accident, because Malik pulled out a knife while she and Lollar were playing around.

Surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed Malik dropping a knife near the scene, according to an arrest report. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled Lollar’s death a homicide. A portion of Malik’s statement to police was redacted from the public arrest affidavit, and officials have not publicly released every detail of what she told detectives. A motive was not disclosed in early court records. The case moved slowly at first, and Lollar’s family repeatedly said they were frustrated that Malik was not arrested on the night of the stabbing.

Lollar’s mother, Nathalie Jean, rejected the idea that the death happened because of harmless play. After a previous bond hearing, Jean said children learn not to play with sharp objects. She later told reporters she wanted the maximum sentence. At sentencing, relatives described Lollar as loved, trusted and full of promise. His father, Darveed Lollar Sr., said his son, known as Kemo, was not hanging around the wrong crowd and trusted the person who killed him. “It took for somebody he trusted and loved to do him like that,” he told the judge.

One of the sharpest statements came from Zeldrina Beecham, Lollar’s aunt, who directed her grief and anger at Malik in court. “It will always be a fact that you are a murderer,” Beecham said. “If you was to go to hell, I wouldn’t spit on you to put you out.” Her words captured the deep anger in the courtroom and the pain Lollar’s family said had followed them from the parking garage to every hearing in the case.

Malik also addressed the court before hearing her sentence. She said she accepted responsibility and stayed with Lollar after the stabbing because she wanted him to live. “I was reckless,” Malik said. “That knife should never have been out, and because of that, a life was lost.” She said helping him afterward did not undo the harm. “The family wants me in prison, but I’m in my own prison for the rest of my life,” Malik told the judge.

Defense attorneys argued that Malik’s age, lack of criminal history and conduct after the stabbing supported a sentence focused on rehabilitation. They asked for youthful offender treatment and placement in a Miami-Dade corrections boot camp program, saying therapy and strict structure would be more useful than a long prison term. Malik’s lawyer said the stabbing was not intentional and grew from immature conduct with a deadly object. Prosecutors countered that youth did not erase the danger of bringing out a knife and that Lollar’s family deserved accountability for a preventable death.

Hernandez sided closer to the state’s request. The judge said Malik’s youth did not excuse what happened and that the court could not ignore how Lollar died. She said the sentence had to reflect the seriousness of the offense, accountability and the need to protect the public. Hernandez also ordered Malik to write a letter every Dec. 20 during her probation, acknowledging what happened and how it affected her life. Malik stood silently in a black suit as the sentence was announced.

The case had drawn attention since Malik’s first court appearances. In February 2025, Judge Stacy D. Glick set bond at $50,000 and required GPS monitoring. Later proceedings tightened Malik’s release conditions, with prosecutors saying manslaughter was a charge that allowed release under the law because Malik had no prior criminal history. Lollar’s relatives packed hearings and objected to house arrest, saying the court system had failed their son. Malik eventually entered a guilty plea with no plea deal, leaving Hernandez to decide the punishment.

Outside court, Jean said she was glad her son could rest knowing justice had been served. Malik’s relatives left in tears, and one uncle said the court failed to recognize that she was a youthful offender at the time of the stabbing. The split showed how the same sentence landed differently for two families: one saw long-awaited accountability, while the other saw a teenager sent away for nearly two decades after a crime the defense said was reckless but not planned.

Malik now faces 17 years in Florida state prison and five years of reporting probation. Her probation conditions include yearly letters on the anniversary of Lollar’s death, with the first due after her release if she reaches that stage of the sentence.

Author note: Last updated May 25, 2026.