A Mobile woman pleaded not guilty to a manslaughter charge stemming from the stabbing death of a man during a domestic dispute earlier in the summer, with the case moving toward a preliminary hearing.
Tamekia Danielle Steele, 35, entered her plea in District Court, breaking down in Judge Bob Sherling’s courtroom as she did so. She was accused of killing 32-year-old Willie LeKeith Coleman in a June 26 domestic incident.
Found with a neck wound
Coleman was found with a neck wound near the intersection of Circle and North Fairport drives, according to accounts of the case. He was later pronounced dead at the University of South Alabama Medical Center.
Police said Steele and Coleman had at one point lived together or dated, though the status of their relationship at the time of his death was unclear. Steele was released on a $25,000 bond and was set to appear for a preliminary hearing before Judge Sherling on July 17.
Both had prior records
Court records reviewed in connection with the case showed that Coleman had several arrests dating back more than a decade, including charges of domestic violence, receiving stolen property and cocaine possession. He had pleaded guilty to the latter two charges, as well as to marijuana possession in 2010.
At the time of his death, Coleman was enrolled in a substance abuse program as a condition of his probation, having been arrested on drug charges in late March, the records showed.
Steele had one prior arrest in Mobile County, for third-degree burglary in 2002, according to the records.
A case headed to a hearing
The manslaughter charge, rather than a more serious count, signaled the way prosecutors initially framed the case as it entered the court system. A preliminary hearing serves as an early checkpoint, giving a judge the chance to weigh whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed.
Domestic killings occupy a difficult place in the criminal courts, where prior relationships, disputed accounts and the histories of those involved all shape how a case unfolds. The details that emerged in Steele’s case, including the earlier ties between the two and the records of both people, reflected the complicated background that often accompanies such incidents.
Steele’s visible distress in the courtroom underscored the personal weight of the proceeding. With her plea entered and bond set, the matter turned toward the July 17 preliminary hearing, where the evidence against her would face its first formal test.
Authorities released few additional details about the confrontation that led to Coleman’s death or about what may have precipitated it. The location where he was found, near a residential intersection in Mobile, offered one of the few concrete markers in an account that otherwise left key questions for the court process to resolve.
As the case moved forward, it joined the roster of domestic-violence matters working through Mobile County’s courts, each carrying its own set of facts and its own path toward resolution.