An Illinois man was sentenced Tuesday to a 12-year split sentence after beating and knocking a woman’s teeth out just before she discovered she was pregnant.
A jury convicted Malik McKee, 30, of Hazel Crest, Illinois, and formerly of Iowa City, Iowa, on June 18 in Lake Superior Court in Crown Point, Indiana, of aggravated battery and three counts of domestic battery.
Judge Natalie Bokota sentenced him to eight years in prison and four years in Lake County Community Corrections to transition back to society.
He said he would appeal.
The victim, now heavily pregnant, said Bokota might be surprised she would advocate for him. She said the attack was like a “fever dream,” the “first time it ever happened” and “out of character.”
“He has apologized,” she said.
Court filings show McKee got 8.5 years in federal prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty in Illinois to underage sex trafficking. His sister Shuntina McKee and alleged ringleader Willie Woods were also indicted.
The victim asked for Bokota to spare him from prison again. She wanted him to get “help,” rehab, anger management and therapy. McKee’s father, a gang member, was jailed for murder around the time he was born.
“Neither one of us had a father,” she said. “I don’t want this to keep repeating.”
Charlene McKee, his mother, told Bokota she was “begging for help.” Her son “had never been in trouble before” and “never hit a woman before,” she said.
Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar disputed this, noting a 2010 conviction for domestic battery.
He asked for 18 years.
Saying her son didn’t have a serious criminal past was viewing it through “rose-colored glasses,” Balcazar said.
McKee “lived a life of violence,” he said.
He was last released from prison in November 2023. A few months later, this case happened. He continued to beat the victim over several days.
Defense lawyer Angela Jones said she looked at McKee in a ‘totally opposite” way.
He had “one felony conviction” and a “very troubled childhood.”
His dad was “in and out” of prison. The “streets raised him.” He said in court paperwork he was “born into a gang.” He was apologetic for what happened.
She asked for up to five years, or a split sentence including mental health treatment, anger management and an opportunity to get his GED.
“He is not beyond help,” she said.
Bokota said she could clearly see the victim’s still-missing teeth.
In court, McKee apologized to his “fiance” and said it was “one incident.” Prison was just a “hostile environment.” He asked for “some type of help” rather than be “thrown to the wolves.”
He also asked to be released briefly to see his child’s birth.
Bokota told him others had “terrible childhoods” but “free will” in how they treated others. He was “correct” to admit he needed “treatment.” When courts offered him help in the past, McKee didn’t “hold up your end of the work.”
“I’m not the least bit surprised,” by the victim’s defense of McKee, Bokota said. Many abused women come to court and “make excuses” for their partners.
McKee’s reaction to the pregnancy “was to punch her,” Bokota said. “You basically blame the victim.” He was “disrespectful” and “arrogant,” trying to say the Indiana court had “no jurisdiction” in the past.
She denied his request to see the baby’s birth.
The charges stemmed from a March 5 incident where police responded to a domestic battery call.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a witness told police that the woman’s eye was swollen shut and gave her a note, saying, “If anything happens to (me), Malik McKee…(killed me).” When police arrived at her house, the victim opened the door, crying and asking officers to get her away from the house. McKee was still inside and she was afraid he would kill her, records state.
Further investigation revealed that McKee had gone on a “Xanax bender,” staying in a hotel in Illinois for four days, during which he hit the woman where her injuries could be covered. Upon arriving home, he punched her in the face until he knocked out her teeth and caused a gash on her eyebrow, the affidavit states.
She went to the hospital for the injuries but lied to the doctor that she had hit her face on the counter and didn’t call police. She found out she was pregnant at the hospital, court records state. When she told McKee the news, he punched her in the eye and threatened to kill her and the baby before choking her until she passed out.
In the prior federal sex trafficking case, McKee was indicted after buying bus tickets in 2012 to take three underaged teen girls to Chicago from Iowa for prostitution, then renting hotel rooms with his sister.
McKee’s defense lawyer noted at his 2018 sentencing that his childhood was barbaric. The Chicago Tribune said it was “dominated by gangs, drugs” and “abuse.”
The Chicago Tribune contributed.
mcolias@post-trib.com
