JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local family is on the countdown for justice. Kalil McCoy's classmate was convicted of killing her in cold blood, but now, he's getting another chance at freedom.
Lynette Roebuck, McCoy's mother, spoke exclusively with Action News about her fight to make sure her daughter's accused killer, Freddie Wade, dies behind bars.
"My bad day is like every day. There's not a day that goes by I don't think about Kalil or cry for her," Roebuck said.
But Roebuck tried to share what her personal hell has been like, trapped by the reality she'll never hold her daughter again, tortured by the thought that she couldn't save her daughter on Father's Day 2011.
"I tried to commit suicide three times; some people might not understand," she said.
McCoy's body was found behind the family's day care on the east side. She had been shot in the head.
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"To this day, he nor his family have showed remorse. He says it was an accident, it wasn't an accident, it was murder," Roebuck said.
Roebuck said she thought she had justice when Wade was convicted, but that justice was overturned and Wade will possibly stand trial again.
"Everything went perfect in court, for there to be a technicality ... I'm pissed, I'm hurting, I'm in pain, I want to be compensated, don't make me feel like my daughter is a statistic," Roebuck said.
Roebuck said she wrote Assistant State Attorney John Guy a letter on Father's Day, expressing her anger over the retrial. That mistake she said, gives Wade a shot at freedom.
Roebuck said she never heard from Guy and she has this to say to the man accused of killing McCoy:
"What I would like to tell the family and Mr. Wade, I shouldn't give the man that respect ... but I can guarantee your freedom, if you give me my daughter back, but you can't."
Wade is in court Wednesday to either accept a plea deal or hear if he's going back to trial. Roebuck will be there. She said she told the State Attorney's Office, she won't be happy with anything less than Wade coming out of prison an old man, who's no threat to anyone.