New York Man Convicted Of Murder Of Ricky Trooper’s Daughter
Selector Ricky Trooper has got some measure of justice after a three-judge panel of the Superior Court convicted 43 year old Bronx resident Derrick Francis, of murder in the 2023 shooting death of his daughter.
Francis was romantically involved with 34-year-old Brianna Destiny McKoy, who was also his child’s mother, and her murder deeply rocked the Jamaican music community and the diaspora worldwide.
The panel, composed of Judges Earl B. Richards III, Eliot D. Prescott, and Peter A. McShane, rejected the argument of “extreme emotional disturbance” as a defence put forward by Francis’ attorney, Gerald Klein, who theorized that Francis had “reached a breaking point” in a turbulent relationship.
The attorney described the killing as a “crime of passion,” but the judges were not persuaded, and unanimously found Francis guilty of murder.
McKoy was gunned down inside the Bridgeport apartment she shared with Francis shared on April 6, 2023.
According to the arrest affidavit, officers responded to a 911 call reporting an assault at the Coachlight Square condominium complex shortly before 11:30 a.m. that day. When police arrived, they found McKoy dead from gunshot wounds in her bedroom.
A neighbor testified during the trial that she heard Francis and McKoy arguing loudly, McKoy screaming “Stop, stop, stop,” and then a loud gunshot. When the neighbor went to check, she reportedly saw Francis leaving the apartment.
Following the killing, Francis fled Connecticut and made his way to Solon, Ohio. He was apprehended two days later after officers stopped the vehicle he was riding in during a traffic stop. Francis ran from the police but was captured after a short foot chase. Officers recovered a gun from under the passenger seat, which forensic testing later confirmed had fired the cartridge cases found at the murder scene.
Francis, who was already being sought in connection with a prior domestic incident involving McKoy at the time of the killing, was extradited back to Connecticut with the help of the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force.
During the trial, State’s Attorney Joseph Corradino argued that Francis’ shifting stories to police—first claiming he wrestled the gun from McKoy, then saying he found it in a drawer while looking for money—showed that his actions were not those of someone overcome by emotion, but of someone trying to cover his tracks.
“What comes out of the evidence is a defendant concerned with what is his,” Corradino said during closing arguments reported by the CT Post.
Selector Ricky Trooper, a titan in Jamaica’s sound system culture, ascended to fame in the 1990s with Killamanjaro Sound System, helping to shape dancehall’s golden era, and working alongside icons like Ninjaman and Papa San.