The guilty plea leaves sentencing to a judge, with punishment ranging from probation to as much as 30 years in prison.
MIAMI, FL — A Miami teenager pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter in the 2024 stabbing death of her ex-boyfriend, a 17-year-old high school football player, shifting a closely watched case from questions about guilt to a sentencing hearing now set for May 5.
Jahara Malik, now 18, admitted guilt in the death of Yahkeim “Keimo” Lollar, a former running back at Miami Northwestern Senior High School who was stabbed Dec. 20, 2024, in the parking garage of his apartment building. The plea was not tied to any sentencing agreement, so Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Christine Hernandez will decide the punishment. In court, Hernandez said the options could range from probation under youthful-offender treatment to a prison term of up to 30 years, placing the next stage of the case squarely on the judge and on arguments from both families.
The plea came more than 14 months after the killing in the 6100 block of Northwest Sixth Court, near Northwest 61st Street in Miami’s Liberty City area. Investigators said Lollar was stabbed in the chest on the third floor of the garage and was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:53 p.m. Malik was 17 at the time. Her lawyers had long said the stabbing was accidental and happened during what she described to police as horseplay. On Monday, family members and supporters of Lollar filled the courtroom as Malik changed her plea. Lollar’s mother, Nathalie Jean, said outside court that the moment felt “bittersweet” because it took so long, in her view, for Malik to accept responsibility for her son’s death.
Defense attorney Larry Handfield told reporters after the hearing that Malik chose to plead guilty because she wanted to accept responsibility for what he described as an unintended result. He said she had been remorseful from the start, called 911 and tried to perform life-saving measures after the stabbing. Jean rejected that account and said she does not believe Malik’s remorse is genuine. “I want the max,” Jean said, adding that she wants the judge to impose the harshest sentence allowed. The sharply different views have shaped the case from its earliest days: the defense has framed the death as a tragic teenage encounter that spun out of control, while Lollar’s family has said the killing deserved a far tougher response from the start. What still is not publicly clear is the full minute-by-minute sequence before the knife was pulled, or what evidence prosecutors would have emphasized had the case gone to trial.
Lollar’s death drew attention well beyond the courthouse because of who he was to relatives, classmates and coaches. Family members said he was known as “Keimo,” earned good grades and hoped to work in finance one day. At Miami Northwestern, he had played football and was remembered by relatives as competitive, close to his family and more likely to stay home playing video games than roam the streets. In the days after the stabbing, loved ones gathered for a vigil with white candles, green balloons in his favorite color and music in his honor. His aunt, Miami-Dade police officer Zeldrina Beecham, said the family had taught him to keep his head on straight and stay out of trouble. Those memories later became part of the public pressure campaign his family mounted as weeks passed without an arrest and frustration grew over what they saw as a slow-moving case.
The legal path was unusually public and often tense. Malik was arrested on Jan. 28, 2025, more than a month after the stabbing, and prosecutors charged her as an adult with manslaughter. At an initial court appearance, another judge set bond at $50,000 and ordered GPS monitoring while the case moved forward. Prosecutors then pushed for tighter restrictions, and Hernandez later elevated the terms to strict house arrest, allowing Malik to leave home only for school and meetings with her lawyers. Family members for Lollar packed hearings and argued she should be jailed while awaiting trial. Defense lawyers countered that Malik had no criminal record, was still a student and should not be held in an adult lockup before trial. By January 2026, after repeated court dates and no trial, relatives and a family attorney publicly complained that the delays were deepening their grief. Monday’s plea ended the need for a trial but left the sentencing fight unresolved.
That sentencing hearing now becomes the main event in the case. Hernandez told Malik in court that she could impose a youthful-offender sentence, which could mean anything from probation to four years in state prison followed by supervision, or she could order a much longer prison term under the adult manslaughter charge. Handfield did not say Monday whether he will formally seek youthful-offender treatment, but his earlier remarks suggest the defense will argue that Malik’s age, lack of prior record and actions after the stabbing should weigh in her favor. Prosecutors and Lollar’s family are expected to press the opposite case, pointing to the loss of a 17-year-old life and the long stretch of litigation that followed. No public plea agreement limits Hernandez’s decision. The next major milestone is May 5, when both sides are expected to present arguments and the judge will decide how the case ends in criminal court.
Even with the guilty plea entered, the hearing showed how raw the case remains for the people tied to it. Lollar’s relatives arrived carrying more than court papers and memories of past hearings; they brought the same anger and sorrow that had fueled vigils, protests and emotional statements since late 2024. Jean said she is now leaving the matter in the judge’s hands and hopes her son can “rest in peace.” Handfield said Malik will have to live with what happened for the rest of her life, whatever sentence the court imposes. The contrast between those statements captured the divide that has run through the case from the beginning. One side sees Monday’s plea as overdue accountability for a killing that shattered a family. The other sees it as a young defendant finally acknowledging a tragedy she never meant to cause.
For now, the case stands at a narrower but still consequential point: guilt has been decided by Malik’s own plea, but punishment has not. Unless the schedule changes, the next public step is the May 5 sentencing hearing in Miami-Dade court.
Author note: Last updated March 16, 2026.