VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A jury found Malik Kearney not guilty on all charges at the end of the sixth day of his trial Tuesday. Wednesday afternoon, Virginia Beach jail officials released him.
The 26-year-old faced several charges, including DUI, hit-and-run and 10 counts of firing his gun in public. All of this is connected to an incident that occurred during the March 2021 Oceanfront shootings.
Since Kearney served more than 13 months in jail and then a jury found him not guilty, does this give Kearney grounds to sue the city? Legal Analyst Ed Booth said in simple terms, no.
Booth said it's not common for someone like Kearney to have grounds to sue the city after staying in jail without bond.
"Simply being acquitted by a jury does not mean you will have a viable civil claim against anyone who was involved in your arrest or prosecution," Booth explained. "Very rarely would that turn into a viable civil case."
Virginia Beach Police Officer Philip Armstead testified during the trial. He told jurors he suffered a permanent injury to his hip after he said Kearney hit him with his car in March 2021.
Booth says if Armstead chose to do so, he could still file a civil case, suing Kearney for personal injury.
"Simply because the police officer was working in his capacity as a law enforcement officer, doesn't mean he can't pursue a personal injury claim," said Booth.
Booth went on to use an example to further his explanation of how the DUI charge could come back into play in a personal injury case, even if a jury found Kearney not guilty on the charge.
"I've had on numerous occasions where I was handling a personal injury case for a person who was hit by a drunk driver. In that particular incident, you have the DUI component, which is totally separate from the personal injury side of things in the sense that the criminal justice system handles that aspect of it. I would be bringing the DUI component in the case I was putting on for my client for a number of reasons, including the ability to get into statutory punitive damages," said Booth. "That's a perfect example of where you have parallel processes."
Again, the jury found Kearney not guilty on all DUI charges.
Booth added the attorneys for the Commonwealth of Virginia by law cannot try Kearney again on the same charges because a jury acquitted him.
A spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office said jail officials released Kearney a day later than expected because they had to communicate with Newport News court officials about a misdemeanor charge he faced in Newport News for a traffic-related incident in early 2021.
13News Now spoke to one of Kearney's friends. She said once Kearney left the Virginia Beach jail, the pair drove back home to Hampton.
Kearney did not respond to requests to speak one-on-one.