“Because those kids were there, this can now be a capital murder case,” a legal analyst later explained. “Because anytime in Alabama when there’s a child that the couple shares in common that’s under the age of 14, you now could be looking at capital murder.”
None of the children were physically harmed. They were taken into police custody.
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On April 21st, 2025 — what would have been his daughter’s 7th birthday — homicide detectives brought the case before the Jefferson County Magistrate’s office. A capital charge warrant was issued for Chhatise Renee Jackson. The charges were elevated given that her children were inside the vehicle when it happened. She was transferred to Jefferson County Jail with no bond.
On April 23rd, 2025, the Birmingham Police Department confirmed the arrest publicly. Their statement noted that witnesses reported seeing Chhatise enter her vehicle and run over McKis, causing him to be struck between the vehicle and a neighboring house.
Then came the courtroom moment people could not move past.
Chhatise walked into court laughing and smiling — like she felt no remorse for what she had done. Her hair was visibly disheveled on one side. She whispered across the room. She smiled at someone in the gallery.
Her attorney later claimed at a subsequent hearing that McKis’s family had pulled her hair during the confrontation. Supporters asked: was that the truth? Was what people saw a woman in shock? Or someone who had already decided how she felt?
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A video circulated after the incident showing a man and a woman in a physical altercation at an airport. Speculation spread quickly that the couple in that footage was McKis and Chhatise. If that was them, what led two people to reach that point in a public space?
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