Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Mikkia Shardae Lewis Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison in 2013 FL Murder of 4-Year-Old Ke’Andre Coleman

  1. #1
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875

    Mikkia Shardae Lewis Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison in 2013 FL Murder of 4-Year-Old Ke’Andre Coleman


    Ke'Andre Coleman


    Mikkia Shardae Lewis and Joe McCaskell



    Suspect in 2013 killing of S. Daytona 4-year-old faces death penalty in trial next week

    By Frank Fernandez
    The Daytona Beach News-Journal

    DAYTONA BEACH — A South Daytona man could face the death penalty if he is convicted at trial starting Monday of having a role in the killing of his then-girlfriend’s 4-year-old son.

    Both Joe McCaskell, 37, and Mikkia Shardae Lewis, 27, are charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both of them.

    McCaskell and his former girlfriend are accused in the death of Lewis’ son, Ke’Andre Coleman. Investigators said the child suffered “torturous” abuse for two weeks before his death five years ago at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend.

    McCaskell sat in an orange jail jumpsuit and handcuffs during a hearing Wednesday at the S. James Foxman Justice Center. The attorneys discussed legal issues, including whether to interview potential jurors individually or collectively regarding their views on the death penalty.

    Circuit Judge Matt Foxman ruled against the defense and said potential jurors would be interviewed collectively.

    During the hearing, McCaskell would occasionally lean over to speak to one of his attorneys.

    It was McCaskell who at 1:07 a.m. on April 15, 2013, called 9-1-1 to report that his girlfriend’s child was not breathing, according to a charging affidavit. The first officer to arrive to the small apartment found the child naked on the bed and his mother putting some shorts on him.

    Paramedics arrived and after being unable to revive the child pronounced him dead.

    Lewis told detectives when they interviewed her: 'I guess I whooped him too much' and admitted telling her son two days before he died that she 'gives up' and 'I don't want you any more'.

    The medical examiner took a full day to record all of his injuries, which included shoe impressions all over his body, a red and swollen bottom with open sores, a mutilated nipple, scabs on his stomach, hemorrhaging in his thighs and shoulders that appeared dislocated.

    The couple have been charged with aggravated child abuse but additional charges are expected pending the final result of the cause of death.

    South Daytona Police Chief Ron Wright said: 'This four-year-old child suffered tremendously, tremendously. Makes me want to throw up.'

    The couple told detectives they forced the boy to hold positions for 30 to 45 minutes, including standing in the corner with his arms raised above his head, keeping his back against the wall and squatting with his knees bent and arms outstretched, and holding himself in a raised push-up position.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ne...rial-next-week
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #2
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Related:

    Prosecutor: S. Daytona child fatally beaten because he didn’t know his letters, colors


    By Frank Fernandez
    The Daytona Beach News-Journal

    DAYTONA BEACH — A 4-year-old boy was beaten after his mother claimed he would not learn his colors or his letters, and the injuries the child suffered resulted in his death, a prosecutor said in Wednesday’s murder trial opening.

    The boyfriend of the dead boy’s mother, Joe McCaskell, 37, and Mikkia Shardae Lewis, 27, are charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Lewis’ son Ke’Andre Coleman. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both of them.

    Only McCaskell is on trial before Circuit Judge Matt Foxman at the S. James Foxman Justice Center. Lewis is being tried separately at a later date.

    It took more than a week to pick a jury of 11 women and four men to begin hearing testimony Wednesday in the case which is expected to continue at least into next week.

    McCaskell sat in a yellow shirt next to his defense attorneys, Ann Finnell, BeJae Shelton and Gonzalo Andux. He sometimes turned to speak to one of the attorneys. At one point he held his hand up to try to shield his face from a photographer.

    McCaskell called 9-1-1 about 1 a.m. on April 15, 2013, to report that his girlfriend’s child was not breathing, a report states. When South Daytona police arrived to the small apartment at 1920 S. Palmetto Ave., they found Ke’Andre’s bruised body on the floor of a back bedroom. His mother was trying to put pants on him, an officer testified. The child was not breathing and had no heartbeat.

    Assistant State Attorney Heatha Trigones, who is prosecuting the case along with Tammy Jaques, said in her opening statement that Ke’Andre had a number of bruises and what appeared to be a shoe imprint on his buttocks. That imprint later matched a shoe investigators seized from the apartment. One of his nipples had been nearly twisted off.

    “They beat and punished a 4-year-old little boy until his body gave out,” Trigones said.

    Investigators also found a piece of a broken belt in the child’s room and the other piece in McCaskell’s room. They found a second piece of a broken belt and nearby a blood-stained towel, Trigones said.

    Along with the beatings, Ke’Andre was punished by being forced to maintain positions, like squatting and pushups, for extended periods of time, the prosecutor said.

    Trigones also recounted to jurors statements that McCaskell made, including telling Lewis that they didn’t do anything and that the child died in his sleep.

    One of McCaskell’s defense attorneys, Shelton, tried to deflect any blame off of McCaskell during her opening statements. Shelton said that Lewis had told McCaskell that when she was behind closed doors with her son in the bedroom he was not to interfere.

    “Only hours after her child died you will hear her repeatedly tell investigators what a bad child Ke’Andre was,” Shelton said. “How he wouldn’t listen to her. He wouldn’t learn his colors. He wouldn’t learn his letters. You will hear her admit that she spanked Ke’Andre. You will hear admit that she hit Ke’Andre with a belt.”

    Shelton told jurors the only statement anyone would attribute to McCaskell is that he spanked the child twice on his buttocks with an open hand.

    Shelton said McCaskell didn’t want to spank Ke’Andre either but Lewis pressed the issue. She said that McCaskell has five children from a previous relationship and he did not spank them.

    The children from the previous relationship did not live with McCaskell and Lewis.

    Paramedic Scott Hughes testified under questioning by Jaques that when he arrived at the apartment the child was dead and cold. And he saw the child had suffered various injuries over time.

    “The child had numerous wounds,” Hughes testified. “There were fresh wounds. There were old wounds. One of the things that really stuck out was the child’s nipple appeared to be removed. I’m not sure how that happened.”

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ne...letters-colors
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #3
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Related:

    May 17, 2018

    S. Daytona man’s murder trial: 10-year-old testifies to seeing beating of boy

    By Frank Fernandez
    The Daytona Beach News-Journal

    DAYTONA BEACH — A 10-year-old child took the stand Thursday at a murder trial and testified he watched through a window as a man used a cord to beat the little boy that man would later be charged with killing.

    The 10-year-old, Raheem Gilmore, said that man was Joe McCaskell.

    McCaskell, 37, and his ex-girlfriend, Mikkia Shardae Lewis, 27, are charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Lewis’ 4-year-old son, Ke’Andre Coleman. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both of them. Lewis will be tried separately at a later date.

    McCaskell called 9-1-1 about 1 a.m. on April 15, 2013, to report that his girlfriend’s child was not breathing, a report states. When South Daytona police arrived to the small apartment at 1920 S. Palmetto Ave., they found Ke’Andre’s bruised body on the floor of a back bedroom. When police and paramedics arrived, the child was not breathing and had no heartbeat. The boy had shoe imprints on his buttock and chest, according to testimony. One of his nipples appeared to have been gouged or severed.

    McCaskell, Lewis and her son had moved into the apartment two weeks before the child’s death.

    The first person to testify on Thursday was the 10-year-old’s mother, Kanora Bush, who said she had knocked on the door of her new neighbor’s in apartment No. 111.

    Bush said Lewis answered the door and she noticed Ke’Andre was bent over touching his toes. Bush said she told the mother that it appeared like a form of abuse. She said Lewis responded that’s the way she punished the boy.

    Bush demonstrated for the jury by bending over at the waist to touch her toes.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ne...beating-of-boy
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Related:

    Murder trial in jury’s hands in case of slain S. Daytona 4-year-old


    By Frank Fernandez
    The Daytona Beach News-Journal

    DAYTONA BEACH — A prosecutor held up a pair of belts and some sneakers to show jurors what she said a South Daytona man used to hit a 4-year-old child who died from the beatings and other punishment.

    The reason given for the severe punishment and beatings: the child wasn’t learning his colors and his ABCs, Assistant State Attorney Tammy Jaques said.

    Jurors started deliberations Wednesday morning at the S. James Foxman Justice Center on whether Joe McCaskell is guilty of first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Ky’Andre Coleman.

    McCaskell, 37, and his ex-girlfriend, Mikkia Shardae Lewis, 27, are accused of abusing the child over a three day period which ended with McCaskell calling 9-1-1 about 1 a.m. on April 15, 2013 to report that the child was not breathing.

    Lewis is being tried separately at a later date. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both of them. If McCaskell is convicted of first-degree felony murder then jurors will consider whether to recommend he be put to death. Under a law passed last year, jurors must unanimously vote for death for Circuit Judge Matt Foxman to have the option of imposing that sentence.

    When South Daytona Police arrived they found Ke’Andre’s bruised body in a back bedroom of the apartment at 1920 S. Palmetto Ave. A paramedic testified the boy was not breathing and his arms were stiff, showing the child was already in into rigor mortis.

    Jaques, who is prosecuting the case along with Heatha Trigones, told jurors during closing arguments that the fact the child was already in rigor mortis shows that he had been dead for at least two hours before McCaskell called police.

    She said Ke’Andre had marks on his buttocks and chest consistent with shoe imprints. One of his nipples had been nearly gouged off. And his buttocks had large bruises.

    She said that Ke’Andre was also forced to remain in certain positions as punishment for extended periods of times, like bent-over touching his toes or standing in the corner with his hands straight up over his head.

    She reminded jurors of testimony from another child who said he was watching from his own apartment window when McCaskell using a cord and Lewis using a belt beat Ky’Andre. The door to Ky’Andre’s apartment had been open so he could see what was going on inside, he said.

    Jaques recalled testimony from a jail house informant named Jesus Valentin who testified that McCaskell told him that he and Lewis were taking Molly and another drug and had sex that weekend. Valentin said McCaskell also told him that at one point he had been sleeping on the couch when the child came out of his room and woke him. Valentin said McCaskell told him he punched the child in the chest and dragged him back into the room.

    Valentin said that McCaskell told him that he and Lewis had waited to call 9-1-1 to get their stories straight.

    McCaskell’s defense attorney, Ann Finnell, in her closing statement said that Valentin was a jailhouse snitch with nine felony convictions looking to avoid up to 45 years in prison. Instead of prison, Valentin got probation. She asked jurors to question why McCaskell would make such admissions to a man he had spent just two days with at the jail.

    She said that none of the police or the paramedic said that McCaskell appeared to be under the influence of any drug.

    Finnell told jurors that prosecutors were asking them to make assumptions and that they could not convict McCaskell based on assumptions. Finnell said jurors had to have proof beyond and to the exclusion of any reasonable doubts.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ne...ona-4-year-old
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    478
    Related:

    S. Daytona man found guilty in child’s killing, won’t face death sentence

    By Frank Fernandez
    The Daytona Beach News-Journal

    DAYTONA BEACH — A man accused of beating and punishing his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son to death was spared a possible death sentence on Thursday when a jury found him guilty of a lesser charge than first-degree felony murder.

    The panel of nine women and three men deliberated for 12 hours on Wednesday before being sequestered overnight in a hotel. Then at 10:14 a.m., 24 hours after they started, Joe McCaskell, who was charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of 4-year-old Ke’Andre Coleman, was found guilty of third-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse.

    That means McCaskell will not face a possible death sentence in Ke’Andre’s killing. It was either that or a mandatory life in prison without parole had he been found guilty of first-degree murder.

    McCaskell will instead face up to 15 years in prison on the third-degree felony murder and up to 30 years on the aggravated child abuse. Circuit Judge Matt Foxman has yet to set a sentencing date.

    “We are disappointed that it’s not first-degree murder but we respect the jury’s decision,” said prosecutor Heatha Trigones.

    McCaskell did not show any reaction to the verdict when it was announced. But one of his attorneys, Gonzalo Andux, moved his head back and briefly looked at the ceiling.

    “The verdict was bittersweet,” Andux said later outside the courthouse. “Our client has been saying he’s not guilty the whole time, and that’s what we tried to portray to the jury but at least this verdict is not first-degree and we don’t have to deal with the death penalty.”

    McCaskell will return to the Volusia County Branch Jail where he has been held for five years awaiting the trial.

    And still to be tried in the case is McCaskell’s ex-girlfriend, Mikkia Shardae Lewis, 27, who was Ke’Andre’s mother. She is also charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse. The state is also seeking the death penalty against Lewis, remains jailed without bail.

    The verdict against McCaskell did not come easily. In addition to their 12 hours of deliberations, while sequestered the jurors were not allowed to take their cellphones and their hotel rooms were stripped of television sets. Both to avoid having them exposed to news about the case.

    Then they boarded two vans under escort by deputies to the hotel.

    It appears to be the first time since 2001 that jurors were sequestered during a trial in Volusia County. Jurors were also sequestered during deliberations in the Deltona massacre case but that trial was moved to St. Augustine. No jury has been sequestered in Flagler County for at least the past 30 years, the Flagler County Clerk of Court Tom Bexley wrote in an email.

    The jurors in the McCaskell case were welcomed back to the courtroom just after 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

    “I’ve been informed by the Sheriff’s Office that my future as a travel agent does not look bright,” Foxman told the jury eliciting some chuckles.

    Then he sent them back to the jury room. The jurors knocked on the door at one point asking for water and at another point for dry erase markers. Then came the guilty verdicts.

    At 10:14 a.m. someone in the jury room yelled “Hallelujah.” That was followed four minutes later by a knock on the door. The jury had reached its verdict.

    Ke’Andre Coleman was attending Head Start and was described by instructors during the trial as on level with other kids his age.

    Ke’Andre had been excited to go on a field trip with Head Start to the zoo in Sanford on April 12, 2013. But he didn’t go on the field trip. Instead his mother, who was also supposed to go on the trip, kept him home.

    McCaskell had just gotten a job with a landscaping company about a week earlier. But he told investigators it was raining in Port Orange so he, too, stayed home.

    That Friday began a series of beatings and severe positional punishment that continued through the weekend and led to the child’s death, according to prosecutors Tammy Jaques and Trigones.

    Prosecutors said Ke’Andre was beaten with shoes and belts.

    McCaskell called 9-1-1 about 1 a.m. on April 15, 2013, to report that the child was not breathing.

    When South Daytona police arrived they found Ke’Andre’s bruised body in a back bedroom of the apartment at 1920 S. Palmetto Ave. A paramedic testified the boy was not breathing and his arms were stiff, showing the child was already in rigor mortis.

    Jaques said during closing arguments that showed Ke’Andre had been dead for at least two hours before McCaskell called 9-1-1.

    She said that the beatings and the forced positions led to the boy’s body breaking down, releasing toxins into the blood, which led to his death.

    Kanora Bush testified she saw Ke’Andre bent over in a toe touch position for the three to five minutes she was at the door talking to Lewis about a dresser.

    The woman’s 10-year-old son testified he was watching through a window as Ke’Andre was on the all fours on the floor while McCaskell and Lewis beat him. McCaskell used a cord while Lewis used a belt, he said.

    Jaques showed jurors pictures of Ke’Andre as his body lay on a table at the morgue. His buttocks were badly bruised. One appeared to have a raw red abrasion. Prosecutors said one of his nipples had been nearly gouged off.

    In the video recording, McCaskell tells investigators that he only spanked the child.

    “I mean I done popped him on his butt if she gave me permission to,” McCaskell said and slapped the table several times to demonstrate.

    McCaskell said he did not beat his own five children — four living with their mother in Georgia and a fifth in Tallahassee with a mother there.

    He said that Lewis took the child into the room to punish him but he did not go in there when the door was closed.

    He then said in the video that he did not believe the boy’s mother would harm the child, although he told investigators that if he found out she did, he would tell them.

    McCaskell told them that the child was not learning his colors and was misbehaving at school, so he suggested that Lewis punish him by making him stand in the corner with his arms raised in the air.

    After interviewing McCaskell, investigators left him alone with Lewis in the interview room. The video shows McCaskell telling Lewis that investigators were trying to get him to blame her. She told him that investigators were trying to turn her on him.

    McCaskell refers to Lewis as “Kia.”

    “God took him from you, Kia,” McCaskell tells her.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ne...death-sentence
    Last edited by aljazres; 05-25-2018 at 11:27 AM.

  6. #6
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    South Daytona mom pleads to 2nd-degree murder in son’s death

    By Frank Fernandez
    The Daytona Beach News-Journal

    DAYTONA BEACH — A South Daytona mother who prosecutors said beat and punished her 4-year-old son so severely that he died after suffering injuries, including having a nipple nearly torn off, has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder.

    Mikkia Shardae Lewis, 27, was charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse and would have faced a possible death sentence if convicted on those charges in the death of Ke’Andre Coleman.

    Instead Lewis will face a minimum of 40 years and up to life in prison after reaching the plea deal with prosecutors on Tuesday. Circuit Judge Matt Foxman has yet to set a sentencing date.

    Lewis’s boyfriend, Joe McCaskell, 37, was tried in May on charges of first-degree felony murder and had also faced a possible death sentence for the child’s death.

    But the jury in effect took the death penalty off the table after they found McCaskell guilty of the lesser charge of third-degree felony murder. McCaskell was also found guilty of aggravated child abuse.

    Prosecutors can seek the death penalty only if a person is convicted of first-degree murder.

    Circuit Judge Matt Foxman sentenced McCaskell to the maximum 30 years in prison on the aggravated child abuse and 15 years to run concurrent on the third-degree felony murder.

    Ke’Andre Coleman’s body was already going into rigor mortis when paramedics arrived soon after McCaskell called 9-1-1 about 1 a.m. on April 15, 2013, to report that the child was not breathing, according to testimony at his trial.

    During closing arguments at McCaskell’s trial, Assistant State Attorney Tammy Jaques said belts and shoes were used to beat Ke’Andre. She said the child was also forced to hold positions for extended periods of time as punishment, such as bending over and touching his toes.

    She said Ke’Andre had marks on his buttocks and chest consistent with shoe imprints. One of his nipples had been nearly gouged off. And his buttocks had large bruises.

    According to a report, the mother told officers: “I guess I whooped him too much.”

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ne...-in-sons-death
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #7
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Woman gets 45 years for son's beating death

    Bristol Herald Courier

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for fatally beating her 4-year-old son.

    The Daytona Beach News-Journal
    reports that 27-year-old Mikkia Shardae Lewis was sentenced Friday after pleading no contest to second-degree murder. She had previously been facing a first-degree murder charge and possible death sentence.

    Lewis's boyfriend, 38-year-old Joe McCaskell, called 911 in April 2013 to report that Ke'Andre Coleman wasn't breathing. A paramedic said the child was already in rigor mortis when first-responders arrived at the South Daytona home, meaning he had been dead for some time. Lewis later told police that she had apparently "whooped him too much."

    McCaskell was sentenced to 30 years in prison in May after a jury convicted him of third-degree felony murder.

    https://www.heraldcourier.com/news/w...eda4cf21a.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •