Miami rapper testifies that she shot her manager's friend as ‘a last resort'

A Miami rapper accused of gunning down her manager’s friend during a night out promoting her music testified on Thursday about how she was in fear for her life because — moments before the shooting — he had pinned her down to the ground.

“I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to die,” Kevhani Camilla Hicks said during her testimony. “He had shown me what he was capable of. .... I thought he could kill me, just with his bare hands.”

Hicks, 30, took the stand as her attorneys requested that Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Lody Jean dismiss Hicks’ second-degree murder charge under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. The Stand Your Ground law allows a person to use deadly action if they feel their life is threatened.

READ MORE: Miami rapper who fatally shot her manager’s friend claims self-defense

Parts of the incident involving Hicks, Nathan Smith, her manager, and Demitrie Harris, Smith’s friend — and the subsequent gunfire — were captured on surveillance footage. Defense attorney Marissa Altman-Glatzer played several of those videos in court.

On Oct. 9, 2023, Hicks, who goes by the stage name Key Vhani, and Smith stopped at several venues in Miami to hand out promotional flyers and business cards to advertise Hicks’ music. Harris, Smith’s friend, tagged along.

They went in Smith’s car to the Red Rooster, a restaurant in Overtown. Hicks didn’t know Harris before that night, although she and Smith met years before when he was a music promoter and discovered her on Instagram.

Hicks left her purse — which held her gun — in the car’s trunk, and the trio went into the restaurant. Hicks passed out flyers at the restaurant for about an hour-and-a-half but then headed to Wynwood Walls, which was about a seven-minute drive away.

During the car ride, Harris was screaming, cursing and swinging his arms, Hicks said on the stand. Harris made sexual advances, which Hicks said she rebuffed.

When they arrived, Hicks exited the vehicle to grab her purse from the trunk, but Smith refused to open it, according to court documents. While shouting, Smith eventually opened the trunk and hit Hicks in the chest.

Smith grabbed Hicks near her throat and slammed her into the car and onto the pavement, according to court documents. One filing mentions that Smith testified in a deposition that he and Hicks had a “scuffle.”

Harris then got out of the car and pinned Hicks down by the arms, she testified. Harris straddled Hicks, and she said she recalled feeling his hands and feet all over her body.

“I was scared, I couldn’t breathe. ... I couldn’t understand why he was attacking me,” Hicks said. “I’m panicking... I just want these two guys to get off of me.”

Smith ultimately pulled Harris off of Hicks, and she got away from the men, court documents state. But as she walked away, Harris said, “keep talking that s---, I’ll kill you with one shot,” a filing says.

Hicks testified that she heard footsteps behind her and grabbed her gun as “a last resort.” She said she fired after seeing Harris pull “something black” out of his pocket.

She then continued firing the weapon. Surveillance video, however, shows Harris running away as Hicks gets closer and shoots at him. Harris was struck by bullets three times.

When asked by her attorney why she didn’t walk away, Hicks said she thought she would’ve been “vulnerable” and an “easy target” had she done so. She also said she thought Harris, who then taking cover near a car, was getting into a better position to “finish me off.”

“Everything was happening so fast,” Hicks said on the stand. “I believed this guy could kill me.”

After the gunfire, Smith rammed his car into Hicks, surveillance video shows. Hicks testified that she asked bystanders to call 911, and she was taken to a hospital with three fractured ribs. Smith was not charged in connection to the incident.

On Thursday, Hicks recounted how detectives took her from the hospital to the police station. She gave a detailed statement describing the incident but was arrested later that day after detectives reviewed footage from several surveillance cameras, according to her arrest report.

Hicks said she didn’t tell detectives at the time that she saw Harris reach for his pocket because she was in shock and in significant pain.

During her testimony, Hicks said she had a concealed-weapons license and had never fired her weapon prior to the shooting. Hicks also said her fiancé bought her the firearm so she could take it to her performances and other late-night events.

Hicks has been on house arrest since November 2023, when she was granted a bond, court records indicate. She is required to wear a GPS monitor and must be back at her residence by 9 p.m.

Hicks’ attorneys and the prosecutors will be back in court for argument on Tuesday.