Meet 15 y/o Misty “Ariel” Kornegay and her 11 y/o sister Nicole. That’s their mugshots below…
Prior to yesterday (Tuesday, January 6th, 2015) they lived in the below pictured White Springs, Columbia County, (about 20 miles south of the FL/GA border) Florida home…
The girls had (“had”) and also resided with their 16 y/o brother named Damien (pictured below), now deceased, having been shot to death by 15 y/o Misty / Ariel, and with the “assistance” of her 11 y/o sister.
Another unnamed 3 y/o sibling resided in the house and is now in foster care, having been subsequently removed from mom (33 y/o Misty Kornegay) and pop’s (37 y/o Keith Kornegay), mugshots below, care and custody as they are accused of “child neglect” for failing to supervise their children, being out of town and leaving the 4 minors home alone with access to a firearm.
The initial arrest (of 15 y/o Misty / Ariel) occurred on Monday, January 5th, 2015, when Misty / Ariel and her sister were observed walking outside of the home at approximately 9:30 pm by a police officer who stopped them. Upon making contact Misty / Ariel quickly advised that there had been a shooting in the home. This statement precipitated law enforcement’s discovery of both a deceased Damien a 3 y/o sister inside of the home. It is alleged that Misty / Ariel told the cops that she had shot her brother because he had beaten her but, based upon the evidence gathered on scene, police immediately arrested and charged Misty / Ariel with 1st degree premeditated murder. They also initiated a manhunt for the parents who, at that point, were whereabouts unknown, albeit allegedly “out of town”. Both the 3 y/o sibling and 11 y/o Nicole were taken into foster care but the next day 11 y/o Nicole was also arrested as a principal / accomplice to 1st degree premeditated murder (although her “role” in the offense has not been defined beyond her having “assisted” her older sister in killing her older brother). The parents returned home from “out of town” later Tuesday, were questioned and then were also arrested (for child neglect) and booked into the Columbia County, Florida Jail, where they, and their 2 older daughters are all being held without bond.
I don’t presume to know what really happened in this case but I do know one thing: Mom and pop left 4 kids, aged 16, 15, 11 and 3 home alone (allegedly while out of town, who knows where and for who knows how long, although at least over one the course of one night), obviously with access to a loaded firearm, and Florida Statute 790.174 makes it a crime for anyone to “stores or leaves, on a premise under his or her control, a loaded firearm, as defined in s. 790.001, and who knows or reasonably should know that a minor is likely to gain access to the firearm without the lawful permission of the minor’s parent or the person having charge of the minor, or without the supervision required by law, shall keep the firearm in a securely locked box or container or in a location which a reasonable person would believe to be secure or shall secure it with a trigger lock, except when the person is carrying the firearm on his or her body or within such close proximity thereto that he or she can retrieve and use it as easily and quickly as if he or she carried it on his or her body”.
Unless age appropriate and adequately (at a minimum) supervised, kid + guns = poison. I am a parent of a 10 y/o, a gun owner and my firearms are locked in a safe with trigger guards. In fact, my kid’s “Air Soft” (a “pellet” pistol which shoots little round plastic balls at slow speed) is also locked in the safe. To my way of thinking there is simply no excuse for a child to get a hold of a gun, and, frankly, it should not be a misdemeanor (as it is in FL). Parents who are reckless with “firearms and children” should be prosecuted as felons, with “wiggle room” for Judges and prosecutors to consider case specific facts and circumstances which mitigate or aggravate the offense. Clearly some transgressions are worse than others….
Not that I am here to do the State Attorney’s job, but if the articles that I have read are even half true then in this case the 3rd degree felony “neglect charges” against mom and pop should probably be supplemented with some form of aiding and abetting the 1st degree murder. There is a world of difference between 1st degree and any other form of murder, “premeditation” being the key. For reasons unknown the cops didn’t buy Misty / Ariel’s claim of self-defense and instead believe that she, with “a premeditated design to kill… [had] a conscious decision to kill. The decision must be present in the mind at the time the act was committed. The law does not fix the exact period of time that must pass between the formation of the premeditated intent to kill and the act. The period of time must be long enough to allow reflection by the defendant. The premeditated intent to kill must be formed before the act was committed” (see Florida Standard Criminal Jury Instructions).
Since 1991 Michael A. Haber, P.A. has been creatively, effectively and zealously representing clients, both juvenile and adult, in both State and Federal Courts, in criminal cases ranging from DUI to drug trafficking and from misdemeanors to first degree murder.
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Top notch, very skilled, and highly attentive. Mr. Haber is a fantastic criminal defense attorney. 
- Thanks again. You are second to none when it comes to defending your clients. For that, I thank you
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