A late night confrontation near the Wynwood Walls has turned a rising Miami rapper’s criminal case into a high profile test of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. Kevhani Camilla Hicks, who records as Key Vhani, is asking a Miami Dade judge to grant her immunity from prosecution in a 2023 street shooting that left one man dead.
Hicks is charged with second degree murder in the Oct. 9, 2023 killing of Demitrie Harris and has been on house arrest while the case moves forward. Her legal team argues that a new motion lays out a self defense claim the court should resolve before any jury ever hears the evidence.
According to a defense filing reviewed by Miami Herald, Hicks’ attorneys say Harris and another man pinned her to the ground and that Harris threatened, “keep talking that s---, I’ll kill you with one shot,” which they argue prompted her to pull a handgun from her purse and fire. The motion says Hicks fired “controlled single shots” rather than emptying her weapon, and that she held a concealed weapons license and had firearms training. It also states she suffered blunt force injuries in the struggle, including three fractured ribs.
Video Shows Moments Before and After the Shooting
Surveillance cameras captured parts of the confrontation along with the gunfire. Local station NBC6 published footage that appears to show Hicks being struck by a vehicle just seconds after shots ring out. Police say detectives reviewed that video before arresting Hicks later the same day.
Police Response and Immediate Aftermath
Officers were dispatched by a ShotSpotter alert in the Wynwood Walls area and arrived to find a man lying on the pavement with multiple gunshot wounds, with Hicks nearby and also injured, according to reporting by Local10. Both were taken to Ryder Trauma Center for treatment. Prosecutors say the manager who was with Hicks that night has not been charged.
Court Timeline and What Is at Stake
The defense filed its Stand Your Ground motion on July 22, 2026, and a Miami Dade Circuit Court judge has scheduled an immunity hearing for Aug. 31, 2026, according to court filings cited by Miami Herald. Hicks has remained on house arrest since November 2023 with a GPS monitor and a nightly curfew in place. If the judge denies her request for immunity, Hicks is set to go on trial on Sept. 14, 2026.
How Florida’s Law Could Decide the Case
Florida law on the justifiable use of force states that a person who reasonably believes deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm has no duty to retreat. That framework appears in Chapter 776 of the Florida Statutes. Judges can hear Stand Your Ground immunity claims before trial, and in at least one recent Broward County case a judge granted immunity, as reported by Local10, which meant a single ruling effectively ended the prosecution.
Hicks’ motion does not ask the court to rule on guilt or innocence. Instead, it argues she was legally justified in using deadly force and should not face trial at all. The Aug. 31 hearing is expected to be the next major public moment in a case built on surveillance video, medical records and sharply conflicting narratives, and it will determine whether a jury ever gets to weigh those facts.
