Volodymyr Koval stood before a Broward judge Wednesday to describe himself as a broken man, torn between his anger that he lost his mother to a violent death and his undying love for the person who killed her — his own teenage daughter.
Sofia Koval, 14, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in the May beating death of her grandmother, Yevheniia Koval, 79, as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors who considered the defendant’s youth and traumatized past. Broward Circuit Judge Tom Coleman sentenced her to juvenile sanctions, which include three years in a maximum risk program followed by conditional release and supervision until her 21st birthday.
Koval was charged as an adult and faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Sentencing guidelines for her would have been a minimum sentence of nine years and three months if she had not been treated as a juvenile. But the adult penalties will linger as a constant threat — if Koval reoffends, she could end up serving that prison term after all.