Crime and Courts

Family Furious Over Plea Deal for 15-Year-Old Boy's Accused Killer

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The family of a 15-year-old boy shot in D.C. last year is furious after learning the accused killer is being offered a plea deal.

The plea to voluntary manslaughter would come with a 10-year sentence.

“It’s a slap in our face, and we’re angry,” said Alvoncia Jackson, Malachi Jackson’s grandmother.

Malachi was shot to death in Columbia Heights.

Last May, the head of the homicide squad told News4 the suspect, who was 16 at the time, had a criminal history. 

“We are not strangers to the suspect in this case,” Capt. Kevin Kentish said.

“It was an executional style murder, and you just tell me this young man just going to get a slap in on the wrist. Really?” Jackson said. “A slap on the wrist.”

Malachi’s loved ones say he was a good student and athlete with big dreams. 

“He was just a silly, goofy kid that loved life,” Jackson said. “He loved his family, and it was all snatched one day, and he was just gone.”

She says a group of neighborhood teens tried to get Malachi to join them selling drugs, and when he refused, he became a target. 

His loved ones started an online petition pushing prosecutors to take the case to trial and get a murder conviction. 

“We don’t see justice,” Jackson said. “We don’t see justice. We just see them toying with us, and it’s just not fair. It’s not fair at all.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it won’t comment on ongoing cases. Jackson’s family will learn more at a hearing set for April 14.

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