An 18-year-old girl who pleaded guilty in March to charges related to the killing of her boyfriend will spend nearly two decades behind bars.
A Florida judge sentenced Jahara Malik to 17 years in prison on manslaughter charges for fatally stabbing 17-year-old Yakheim Lollar in December 2024. Malik’s lawyers argued that Lollar’s death was an accident and the two were horsing around. Prosecutors in the case wanted Malik to serve a 20-year sentence for the crime, plus an additional 10 years of supervised release.
Lollar’s family asked that she be sentenced to the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
The 17-year-old was a star athlete at Miami Northwestern High School when, on the night of Dec. 20, he and Malik were in a Miami parking garage, Malik stabbed him with a four-inch blade. He succumbed to his injuries the following day.
“I was wrong for what I did, and every day I sit and think about the damage I caused,” Malik told the court, according to NBC Local 10. “I wish I [could] go back and change what happened, but I can’t, and that’s the worst part. Y’all didn’t deserve this pain and I wish I hadn’t been the one to give it to y’all.”
“The family wants me in prison,” Malik continued. “I’m in my own prison for the rest of my life. This was my best friend, my love and someone I could vent to about anything and everything. He was a good person and definitely should have been here. This is just a sad situation. I miss him every day.”
Tensions ran high in the courtroom during Malik’s sentencing phase. Lollar’s family members each read impact statements and addressed Malik, chiding her for her actions.
“It will always be a fact that you are a murderer,” Lollar’s aunt, Zeldrina Beecham, said, addressing Malik directly. “You are a demon seed that your parents brought into this world to bring suffering on everybody else. Shame on them.”
Per the terms of her sentence, Malik will have to undergo a mental health evaluation and write a letter every anniversary of Lollar’s death to address the impact it has had on her.
Her family is considering appealing her sentence, according to WSVN.
