Parents charged with murder of 5-year-old daughter

Contributed Photo / Political events this summer are forcing voters to choose whether first defenders, like the police, are heroes or villains.
Contributed Photo / Political events this summer are forcing voters to choose whether first defenders, like the police, are heroes or villains.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Law enforcement in Georgia have arrested the parents of a 5-year-old girl who weighed just 7 pounds before dying at an Atlanta hospital in June.

Jerrail Mickens, 31, and Porscha Michens, 29, were arrested Tuesday in Hall County on charges of felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children, news outlets reported.

Authorities said the couple took their daughter, Kylie L. Mickens, to a hospital in Braselton on June 7 because she was unresponsive. Hall County sheriff's deputies said the child weighed just seven pounds when her parents brought her to the hospital. The child was subsequently flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Scottish Rite, where she died the next day.

Because of her condition, the county's Division of Family and Children Services and the sheriff's office were notified. The little girl's official cause of death was listed as dehydration and malnutrition due to medical neglect. The manner of her death, investigators said, is homicide.

Mickens and Michens were arrested after a four-month investigation. Each is being held without bond at the Hall County Jail.

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