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Judge denies immunity claim after contested testimony in domestic‑violence matter
Summary
In a May 11, 2026 hearing, Judge Tammy Long Hayward denied defendant Nikita Shalon Lackey’s motion claiming immunity for acts during an alleged domestic altercation, after conflicting testimony from Lackey and her husband, Wesley Lackey, and introduction of post‑incident photographs.
Judge Tammy Long Hayward denied a defense motion seeking immunity from prosecution for Nikita Shalon Lackey in a contested hearing on May 11, 2026, concluding the evidence did not meet the required preponderance standard.
Lackey, who is charged in case 2023 CR02760 with multiple battery counts, testified that on Jan. 31, 2023, her husband Wesley Lackey grabbed her, struck her in the chest and tried to take her phone while she attempted to call 911. "He grabbed me and swung me around and started hitting me in my chest area," Lackey testified. She said she struck the back of his head while trying to free her phone and produced photographs of a knot on her head and a bruise on her chest; the court admitted those photos as defense exhibits without objection.
The state called Wesley Lackey, who testified he did not strike his wife and said he left the room and later returned to find her injured. "I never put my hands on her," Wesley Lackey testified. Counsel for the prosecution noted state photographs taken at the scene documenting redness on Wesley Lackey's head.
In final argument, defense counsel urged the court to find Lackey acted in self‑defense, pointing to the photographs and her sworn testimony that she was attempting to call for help while being restrained. Prosecutor Mon'nique Adams urged the court to deny immunity, citing conflicting accounts and unresolved factual discrepancies.
Judge Long Hayward said her role in an immunity determination is to weigh the evidence under a preponderance standard, not to decide which witness is more credible. She noted the timing of the defendant's photographs (taken two days after release from custody) and the contemporaneous police photographs of the husband, and concluded the evidence was evenly balanced. "I have to go with what the evidence is," the judge said, and denied the motion for immunity.
The denial leaves the underlying battery counts intact; the case will proceed under the existing criminal docketing and scheduling rules.
