The mother of a Kansas City 10-year-old who starved her child and forced her to sleep in a locked closet pleaded guilty to abuse on Tuesday.
Jacole Prince confessed to keeping her daughter in a closet where the child both slept and used the bathroom, according to local station KCTV. She also admitted to not feeding the child regularly, in addition to using shoelaces to tie the closet door shut.
The child was found by police who were responding to calls from a child abuse hotline, KCTV reported. Kansas City law enforcement discovered the girl, malnourished and unwashed, inside the closet of the apartment at 1318 Highland Ave. She weighed 32 pounds, and reportedly hadn't gone to school since she was of kindergarten age.
Prince on Tuesday nearly fudged the plea agreement, after a Jackson County judge read Prince her charges and informed her that she would have to serve 20 years in prison. The mother disagreed to this sentencing, and the court went into recess while Prince consulted her legal representatives.
Prince returned to the court room 15 minutes later with a changed plea that admitted her assaulting, abusing and endangering the welfare of her child.
The state reportedly said they'd bring in medical officials who could confirm the 10-year-old girl was so severely underfed that she suffered heart failure earlier this year. A heart transplant procedure was conducted at the time, but doctors said the child will encounter developmental problems for a sizeable time of her life.
Prince said she thought she had intense depression, but it was not enough to provide a defense for her in this case.
Prince will be sentenced on April 25 - part of her plea agreement states she won't be sentenced to more than 20 years of jail time.
