A teen is now facing manslaughter charges in the killing of her grandmother in Lauderdale Lakes. NBC6’s Sophia Hernandez reports
A 14-year-old girl accused of killing her 79-year-old grandmother in Lauderdale Lakes back in May was sentenced to a juvenile program after pleading no contest in the death, prosecutors said.
Sofia Koval entered the plea to a manslaughter charge in adult court Wednesday and was immediately sentenced to up to three years in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice maximum risk commitment program, the Broward State Attorney's Office said.
After serving the maximum penalty in the program, she'll be under community supervision until age 21, though it's expected she'll be transferred to federal custody for deportation to her native Ukraine because she is not a U.S. citizen, prosecutors said.
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Koval was charged in the May 23 killing of 79-year-old Yevheniia Koval, who'd been found beaten to death.
The alleged beating happened at an apartment in the Pearl Condominiums on Northwest 41st Street. Authorities responded there after receiving a call about an unresponsive woman. They met Koval's son, who said he'd gone to visit a friend from about 7 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. and left Koval with his 14-year-old daughter.
He said when he returned, he found Koval unresponsive on the floor with abrasions on her neck and bruising on her face, arms and legs, officials said.
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According to an arrest report, the teen told her dad that her grandmother had scratched her, and she "struck the victim several times with a belt" to defend herself. She then started crying, saying "she was sorry for what she had done."
Yevheniia Koval was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
In a redacted arrest report, the teenager allegedly told someone in Ukrainian that "the victim was already dying and that she had helped her die." That person advised that the Ukrainian word the teen used did not have a good translation to English, but that was what she was saying.
According to the teen's father, Sofia Koval had recently moved from Ukraine and was displaying "behavioral issues, which he believed are from the war she witnessed in Ukraine and her being separated from her mother," an arrest report states. He had taken her phone on the day of the killing to discipline her.
The state attorney's office said prosecutors met extensively with the victim’s family before agreeing to the teen's change of plea, and said the victim’s son, who is also the teen's father "fully supported the outcome and thanked the prosecution, defense and judge for how they had handled the case."
The maximum penalty the teen had been facing was up to 15 years in adult prison.
The judge overseeing the case told Koval that if she violates any of the terms of her sentence in the future she will be sent back to him and could face that maximum 15-year sentence.
"Because of the heinous nature of the crime and after considering everything presented by the defense, I believe it is appropriate that this case was transferred to adult court and that juvenile sanctions were imposed," Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said in a statement Wednesday. "We considered all options and worked closely with the victim’s family and with the defense attorneys at the Broward Public Defender’s Office to come up with an appropriate resolution that holds her accountable but also factors in her age and the circumstances of this offense."
