FLINT, MI – Jurors will decide whether Deondre McLilly and his mother, Windy Weatherford, embarked on a “murder mission” to kill Alicia Jackson-Skaggs, or if they met unexpected violence while trying to retrieve a house key.
The 2022 Flint Township homicide case went to trial this week before Genesee Circuit Court Judge Mark W. Latchana.
McLilly and Weatherford are being tried together for charges related to the March 2022 shooting death of Alicia Jackson-Skaggs.
Both defendants are charged with first-degree murder and several other felonies.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys gave opening remarks to two sets of jurors, each focused on one of the two defendants, on Thursday, Jan. 16.
McLilly and Jackson-Skaggs had an on-and-off relationship.
The night before the shooting, Jackson-Skaggs stayed at McLilly’s home, Assistant Prosecutor Lori Selvidge said.
Weatherford picked up McLilly to take him to his roofing job in the Grand Blanc area. She picked him up from work later that day.
Defense attorneys said McLilly and Jackson-Skaggs planned to meet at a Walmart to exchange the house key, but phone records show they were at different Walmarts in Flint.
Later that evening, both vehicles ended up in the Culver’s parking lot on Miller Road. The prosecutor said McLilly and Weatherford went to Culver’s intending to kill Jackson-Skaggs and the two people she was with: Louis Brown and Caleb Stemple.
“This was a murder mission,” Selvidge said. “It was an intention to do an act. The act was completed.”
Brown, who was driving, saw McLilly with a gun, heard shots, and drove away, Selvidge said.
McLilly admitted to firing two shots into the ground at Culver’s after seeing weapons in Brown’s car, defense attorney Jessica Mainprize-Hajek said.
Brown thought they had lost Weatherford and McLilly, who, according to prosecutors, chased their car after they fled Culver’s and pulled into Golden Corral.
The two vehicles met again in the Golden Corral parking lot on Miller Road. Prosecutors said McLilly got out of Weatherford’s vehicle with his gun.
Brown, knowing McLilly had a gun, hit the gas and tried to ram into McLilly, Selvidge said. The car was totaled after hitting the Golden Corral sign.
During the exchange, McLilly quickly took out his gun and fired shots towards the vehicle, prosecutors said. Stemple shot back at Weatherford and McLilly.
One of the gunshots hit Jackson-Skaggs in the head. She died days later.
Mainprize-Hajek said McLilly was acting in self-defense, given the car that was barreling toward him. All this time, McLilly was attempting to retrieve his house key, Mainprize-Hajek said.
Weatherford is being tried for aiding and abetting each of McLilly’s charges. She drove the car during both exchanges at Culver’s and Golden Corral.
Prosecutors said Weatherford assisted in McLilly’s alleged attempt to kill Jackson-Skaggs and the others.
McLilly had been threatened by Brown previously, Mainprize-Hajek said. The prosecutor claims that McLilly and Weatherford were the aggressors. The defense claims that McLilly had no intention of causing any harm.
Weatherford’s car was pulled over on Bristol Road and she was arrested. McLilly attempted to run away on foot before he was also arrested.
Surveillance footage from Golden Corral was not working that day, Mainprize-Hajek said.
Weatherford is represented by Attorney Jodi Hemingway.
Jurors will see surveillance footage from businesses on Miller Road, hear from forensic and ballistic experts and testimony from Brown and Stemple as the lengthy trial continues.
Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free “3@3 Flint” daily newsletter.