On the morning of July 9, 2016, Delaware State University (DSU) junior Malcolm Evans was shot in his car on the way to work at Delaware's New Castle FedEx facility. The woman charged with shooting him, Cheryl Jennings, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, Delaware Online reports.
Jennings said she heard a "boom" that night and assumed someone was breaking into her home. She also claimed she heard keys jingling near her kitchen door and saw someone running from her porch toward the street.
Jennings said she called to her husband, Ralph, who was upstairs watching television. Ralph then grabbed a handgun and ran outside, ordering Jennings to remain in the home. She did not listen, however, and ran out to block a black car coming down the street. Evans was behind the wheel.
She began shouting questions at Evans. Ralph Jennings told police he fired a shot at the car when he saw its brake lights go off. Following the shooting, Evans' car crashed into an embankment, and he died days later in the hospital.
"She worked in the dark and killed a young man headed to work, so he didn't have to ask his parents for money," said Evans' mother, Terry Evans, during the trial. Malcolm was a junior at DSU, hoping to become a neurosurgeon.
Investigators found Evans could not have been at the Jennings home during the time Cheryl said she heard someone trying to break in. Data pulled from his cell phone showed he was running late for work and had just left his parents' house at the time of the alleged break-in attempt.
During Jennings' sentencing on Monday, the judge also ruled the killing occurred "without any provocation from Malcolm."
The testimonies the Jennings family gave to police after the shooting led to questions at the trial as to whether Ralph or Cheryl fired the shot that killed Evans. Cheryl Jennings was found to have alcohol and cocaine in her system immediately following the shooting, which also muddied the waters.
Deputy Attorney General Brian Robertson argued Jennings could've avoided being on trial if she'd called 911.
At an earlier hearing in April, Cheryl pleaded no contest to manslaughter charges. However, at Monday's sentencing, Cheryl placed the blame solely on her husband.
"She has maintained her innocence," said Jennings' hearing attorney, Joseph Hurley. "Ralph said he pulled the trigger."
According to the Miami Herald, however, prosecutors were confident Jennings pulled the trigger herself.
Following his department's investigation into the killing, New Castle's police chief said he was "comfortable and confident" that Cheryl, not Ralph, killed Evans.
Ralph hasn't received any charges in connection with the matter, which concerns Evans' father, Kevin Evans.
"We still don't feel justice is fully served because someone out there who is partially responsible is still walking the streets," Kevin Evans said.
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